Steve Mitchell – USA Today Sports Images
When the Manti Te’o fake girlfriend hoax/scam hit the airwaves, everyone was entertained and shocked by the absurdity of the whole ordeal. The movie “Catfish” had already made its way around with the TV spinoff waiting in the wings, but we had never really seen such a thing happen to a high-profile athlete on such a grandiose scale.
The Te’o story pales in comparison to what happened to Miami Heat big man Chris Andersen, though.
On Wednesday, Ivan Moreno published an article to SI that said that Andersen was cleared of any wrongdoing in a case that resulted in Birdman’s house being searched in May 2012 by Colorado’s Douglas County Sheriff’s Department, more specifically the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit. With those troubling circumstances at the time, the Denver Nuggets excused Andersen from the team and later waived the veteran NBA big man.
However, now that Andersen has had his name cleared, the details of the case have been made public and they are incredibly bizarre. Jon Wertheim of SI dove into what actually happened involving the Birdman.
It all started when Andersen was involved with a girl who lied about her age to Andersen and whom he engaged in consensual sex with. However, he broke no laws in that ordeal. After that, though, the strange occurrences started to go down.
A different woman, a lady from Canada, began hacking into Birdman’s social media, phone, bank, e-mail and “even his video game console.” The hacker then used these means to pose as Andersen on several occasions, communicating with the young girl that Andersen had he relationship with. The hacker, still posing as Andersen, began demanding things of the young girl, including some “sexually explicit” demands that became more threatening as time moved on. That’s when the police stepped in and searched Andersen’s home.
After the investigation, though, we have arrived here, with Birdman’s name being cleared. This is a guy, like him or not, that has done many things to right his path in life and in his NBA career. It’s frightening to know that someone has the means to hack into the lives of basically anyone and come so close to derailing everything that they’ve worked for.
You don’t have to like the Birdman, but it’s good to see that he’s clear of this incredibly strange mess.
Cody Williams is a Senior Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20, add him on Google and like his Facebook page.
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