While Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o's embarrassing romance with a woman who didn't exist grabbed headlines last winter for weeks on end, Heat center Chris "Birdman" Andersen was unwittingly involved in a far bigger scam.
Andersen's lawyers called the scenario "Manti Te'o on steroids," and the catfishing incident nearly cost "Birdman" his career. According to reports, a woman from a province in Canada called Manitoba named Shelly Lynn Chartier concocted an "extremely complex" scheme in which she posed as both Andersen and a woman from California, sending messages to both people while also posing as both.
ESPN reports that she eventually made threats to the California woman while pretending to be Andersen, while attempted to extort the NBA center, then a member of the Denver Nuggets, while assuming the identity of the other woman.
When the scheme got out of hand, Colorado police at one point were searching Andersen's home in a public spectacle that earned him his release from the team during a playoff run.
"When they searched Chris' house they were basically looking for an I.P. address," Andersen's attorney Mark Bryant said. "But it wasn't there. They kept investigating but it took time because it ended up involving two countries."
Over a year passed before Colorado law enforcement officials requested another meeting with Andersen, who by now had already re-ignited his stalled career with the Miami Heat. He reluctantly agreed as the officials who once suspiciously searched his home spelled out what had happened.
"It was right out of CSI with all the charts," Bryant said. "When we walked in there both pretty hostile, it had been 15 months since this happened and we were cooperating but we hadn't heard anything. Chris had a pretty good scowl. We were always confident that Chris was innocent but we just couldn't figure out what had happened."
The Heat have released a statement saying, "We are not surprised this is the end result. We are happy for Chris and glad this unfortunate incident is behind him."
Bryant still lamented the fact that his client's name was dragged through such mud.
"Somebody's reputation worldwide was smeared; you Googled his name and at the top he was being called a pedophile. The cruelty of public opinion was very difficult," Bryant said. "It's been exhaustive and humbling to restore his name. But we're not glad; nothing glad came out of this."
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