Permian Impostor Saga Comes To End With Guilty Plea
By: Karl Rundgren
Updated: July 28, 2011
ODESSA -- An incredibly high-profile trial is over, before it even started.
Guerdwich Montimer pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault and three counts of tampering with government records Wednesday. The "Permian Impostor" was sentenced to 3 years in prison. He'll also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
The plea ends the strange story of Monitmer, who went from being a high school star athlete to a convicted sex offender.
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On the basketball court, he was amazing. Less than two years ago, Jerry Joseph was known as the teenage standout who helped bring the Permian High basketball team a series of impressive wins during the 2009-2010 season.
But it turned out Joseph was actually 22 year old Guerdwich Montimer -- a man who had already played high school basketball in Florida years earlier. It was a lie that was going to bring Montimer to a very different court in August 2011.
Montimer was charged with tampering with government records last year. He was also charged with sexual assault for a relationship he had formed with a teen girl at Permian.
The alleged victim thought Montimer was a teenager when she dated him. Though she was ready to testify against her former boyfriend, she asked the prosecution if there was any other way.
"We talked to the victim in this case and that's what she wanted us to do," Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland told Big 2. "And based on the facts in this case it was certainly appropriate."
So on Wednesday, Montimer pleaded guilty to five counts. Then he was sentenced to three years behind bars.
Although Montimer stood to face a stiffer sentence handed down from a jury, Bland says justice has been served -- because Montimer will also have to register as a sex offender.
The impostor who caught the nation's attention can never pretend to be anyone else again.
"Anytime he goes anywhere, he's going to have to go to the local authorities and say 'I'm Guerdwich Montimer, and I'm a convicted sex offender,'" Bland told Big 2. "And as a result, he'll never be able to do what he did. We've just protected everyone else from going through what Odessa went through."
Wednesday was the last chance for Montimer to cut a deal. In fact, witnesses were going to start flying in from Florida Thursday, and the trial was set to start on Tuesday, August 2nd.
Guerdwich Montimer pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault and three counts of tampering with government records Wednesday. The "Permian Impostor" was sentenced to 3 years in prison. He'll also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
The plea ends the strange story of Monitmer, who went from being a high school star athlete to a convicted sex offender.
****
On the basketball court, he was amazing. Less than two years ago, Jerry Joseph was known as the teenage standout who helped bring the Permian High basketball team a series of impressive wins during the 2009-2010 season.
But it turned out Joseph was actually 22 year old Guerdwich Montimer -- a man who had already played high school basketball in Florida years earlier. It was a lie that was going to bring Montimer to a very different court in August 2011.
Montimer was charged with tampering with government records last year. He was also charged with sexual assault for a relationship he had formed with a teen girl at Permian.
The alleged victim thought Montimer was a teenager when she dated him. Though she was ready to testify against her former boyfriend, she asked the prosecution if there was any other way.
"We talked to the victim in this case and that's what she wanted us to do," Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland told Big 2. "And based on the facts in this case it was certainly appropriate."
So on Wednesday, Montimer pleaded guilty to five counts. Then he was sentenced to three years behind bars.
Although Montimer stood to face a stiffer sentence handed down from a jury, Bland says justice has been served -- because Montimer will also have to register as a sex offender.
The impostor who caught the nation's attention can never pretend to be anyone else again.
"Anytime he goes anywhere, he's going to have to go to the local authorities and say 'I'm Guerdwich Montimer, and I'm a convicted sex offender,'" Bland told Big 2. "And as a result, he'll never be able to do what he did. We've just protected everyone else from going through what Odessa went through."
Wednesday was the last chance for Montimer to cut a deal. In fact, witnesses were going to start flying in from Florida Thursday, and the trial was set to start on Tuesday, August 2nd.
