How Does a 21-year-old Join a Youth Football Team?
While youth sports programs have significantly boosted their screening systems in recent years to keep out would-be coaches who have criminal backgrounds, a Florida football league was publicly embarrassed this week by a more unusual scam: A 21-year-old convicted burglar registered and played as a 14-year-old boy. How does an adult sign up as a child? “We’ve got 4,000 kids and we’re all volunteers,” said Scott Levinson, president of the Tampa Bay Youth Football League. “We have the requirements in place and we’re always re-evaluating, but you can’t background check a child – and as far as we knew, he was a child.” Police say Julious Threatts’ hoax was uncovered when he tried to register at a local middle school. He was charged with trespassing on school grounds, obstruction by a disguised person and violation of his probation for his burglary conviction in 2009. By that time, the 5’11″, 160-pound Threatts had already played in one game for the Town ’N Country Packers under the name Cha
