A 19-year-old was arrested Thursday on suspicion of using a fake birth certificate to enroll at a California high school and play on the football team, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
Elijah Nathaniel Frisco is to believed to have used the name Eihly Cheung to enroll at Montclair (Calif.) High School. Chaffey Joint Union High School District Superintendent Mathew Holton said he has already graduated high school.
The Tribune wrote that there were reports on social media began after Montclair’s win against Pomona (Calif.) High School on Sept. 2 that a player was ineligible. Montclair coach Martin Bacon responded to one tweet, which apparently prompted an investigation from the school. The person tweeted at him also attached a screenshot of a text chain apparently dated on Sept. 3 that said the player identified as Frisco at Ponoma, aligning with the investigation released Thursday.
First off this is the first I’m hearing this and to think that my self as a coach and Montclair as a program would do something like that is crazy. Second as a school we will get to the bottom of this cause that’s the right thing to do. That’s what I say.
— Coach Bacon (@Noble9) September 3, 2022
Holton released a statement saying the school reached out to the athlete’s parents and then notified police.
“Montclair High School administration was notified late Friday, September 2, 2022, that a player on the Montclair High School football team was allegedly a 19-year-old who already completed high school,” Holton said in the statement, according to the Tribune. “School officials contacted the parents of the individual to seek information regarding the allegations.
“Following correspondence with the parents, the District notified Montclair Police Department, and law enforcement personnel began an investigation. Montclair Police determined that the individual misrepresented himself in the enrollment process for the purpose of playing football, and he was arrested for submitting falsified documents to the school.”
Montclair must forfeit six football games and one basketball spanning through last season as a result. According to the Los Angeles Times, Montclair is retroactively forfeiting its 2021 wins against City of Industry Workman, Hacienda Heights Wilson, Hemet West Valley, San Gabriel and South Pasadena, its 2022 win against Pomona, and a basketball game from last season that took place on Dec. 17.
MaxPreps currently shows a player on Montclair’s roster named Eihly Cheung. The Tribune reported that Pomona had a player under the name Elijah Frisco on its 2020 roster, though this name does not appear on the MaxPreps roster page.
Pomona page in 2020 does not show Elijah Frisco, though the Tribune reported that Pomona did have a player on its 2020 roster with that name.
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