A Canadian high school basketball star is in jail pending an immigration hearing.
Authorities say the player is not a 17-year-old basketball prospect, but rather a grown man more than a decade older.
Everyone at Windsor’s Central Catholic High School thought Jonathan Nicola was a 17-year-old, but it turns out he's actually a 30-year-old man.
The south Sudanese native was in Canada on a student visa and living with the basketball coach, until customs found out and stopped the apparent fraud.
Shocked parents and grandparents offfered their reactions outside the Catholic school Friday.
"That's like me having a peewee team and bringing Willie Horton in, you know?” one man said.
It seems like someone must have known, but nobody said anything for the entire season last year in which the six-foot-nine, 202-pound man played numerous games.
"He was on the basketball team; we needed him. I don't know? (The) basketball team is an excellent basketball team. They dominated this area over the last 10 years,” a parent said.
The scandal is the talk of student-athletes.
"When he was here he was really nice,” one student said.
The school and Canadian officials remaining tight-lipped about the matter.
Nicola remains in custody awaiting immigration hearings.
About the Author
