Instead, he ended up in a cramped, uncomfortable attic, fearful of the woman on the floors below, her drug habit and the visitors she attracted. In addition, the changes were announced very close to the start of the school year, which caused a lot of consternation. "We're not dumb people. PATERSON As a result of the basketball recruiting scandal that rocked Eastside High School in 2017, more than 100 Paterson sports coaches this year were required to pass a test about state athletic association rules. The board of trustees met Thursday evening to discuss the possibility of offering the principals their jobs back and rehiring the teachers who resigned. In anticipation of a radio story for the Beat, Andrea went to work on her Roosevelt campus last week and asked students what they thought of the scandal. As we previously reported, Thornblade club officials have acknowledged the existence ofserious financial irregularitiesrelated to the operations of the facility including alleged credit card fraud that was first reported earlier this year to the Greenville countysheriffs office. He left Paterson midway through the season and returned to Puerto Rico. I help her set the whole thing up, said Andrea, a Roosevelt High senior who is waiting to hear back from some of the colleges shes applied to. WHAT TO KNOW: After winning Saturday's sectional semifinal at No. After starting high school that spring, Aquino, who now stands 6-9, joined the powerhouse New Jersey Sparks AAU program. CLICK HERE. Given the broad investigatory powers this federal agency possesses when it comes to all manner of cybercrime there is literally no telling what facets of this saga it could be probing. Its absurd.. "She's a mature, strong kid and she's hanging in there," Vanderbilt head coach Stephanie Smith said earlier this year. If you have difficulty accessing information on our website due to a disability, contact Ms. Green, Director of Operations, at mgreen@www.metscharterschool.org or (201) 526-8500 ext. A big shakeup happened at Eastside Catholic after two principals were fired and 13 faculty members quit in protest. On Tuesday, September 1, 2020, we reported that Rick Mathews had been interviewed on the previousTuesday (August 25, 2020)by agents of DHS Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)unit. The high and mighty went as low as they could go, and it did not play well in Boyle Heights. Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. 1:07. Coaches in other towns dont have to take a test on NJSIAA rules, he said. Those fortunes changed when a man in her neighborhood snapped photos of Aquino and sent them to the Paraguay Basketball Federation, which invited herto train alongside the country's finest players in the nation's capital. CLICK HERE. The school serves the city's Ironbound neighborhood. Paterson school board President Oshin Castillo said the district has emphasized accountability among its staff members. Since our first story on Thornblade ran last week, we have been bombarded with tips related to these various allegations. Selwyn tore his ACL in his very first game at Eastside. Got something youd like to say in response to one of our articles? The Beat reporters heard each other out and decided to invite a teacher, a college student and a parent maybe Azucenas mother to participate in a radio talk show about the scandal. Ortiz left Somerset and moved in with the Rodriguezes in their apartment in downtown Paterson. 1 pick in the NBA Draft. ", "As I'm sure you can understand, I am not able to provide specific personnel details. As we exclusively reported on July 23, 2020, allegations ofserious financial irregularitiesatthe prestigiousThornblade Clubpromptedan investigationby the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) an agency with broad jurisdictional authority when it comes to cyber-enabled financial crimes.. The change was posted the day after the school had a meeting with parents. Boys and girls teams face state tournament bans. There are also blackmail allegations linked to the rumored prostitution/ sex ring. Fired coach wonders: How did I become guardian for 7-foot Nigerian player? We have also rescheduled our back-to-school dates to allow us to refocus on the classroom and prepare adequately. To recap: We have been looking into three distinct Thornblade-related scandals: 1) Allegations of embezzlement involving the neighborhood golf club, 2) allegations of a prostitution ring (or sex ring) involving several Thornblade residents, and 3) allegations involving an athletics team at a government-run high school in nearby Taylors, S.C. which is said to be somehow connected to the prostitution/ sex ring accusations. A Q and A about its creation, Decades later, 'Uncle Sam' billboard still sparks debate, VIDEO: President Trump Says 'Blame on Both Sides, I Wait for Facts', Woman loses $29K after being targeted by banking scam with victims in 9 states, Driver killed after car goes off overpass in Georgetown, Puyallup teen considered suicide after school beating, Cheerleader performs solo after team quits before state championships, Kent police investigating kidnapping after car stolen with 2 kids inside. The scuffle broke out with four minutes left in the second quarter of the game. "I ended up in Jersey.". Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). The Vaqueros are a proud franchise in the country's top basketball league, and as their first-round draft pick this season, Rodriguez, a 6-foot-7 point guard, can carve out a nice career here. But how do you know? More:Paterson Eastside High School basketball ban upheld by state commissioner, More:Paterson names new coach for Eastside girls basketball team, More:Michael Baker named boys basketball coach as Eastside looks to rebound from scandal. Over the weekend, Shafer reached out to Mayor Andre Sayegh and Public Safety Director Jerry Speziale and was put in contact with . Got a technical question or a glitch to report? The big picture is this: We are working to restore our school's previous administrative structure. supports HTML5 video. In her resignation letter teacher Lisa Abraham wrote, "Justyna stands up for each, individual student. Blessing Ejiofor landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport in February 2014, working through a mental checklist of her new life in North Carolina. The Camden City School District said Friday that both teams have been withdrawn from the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) state tournament. March 17, 2019 5 AM PT. 2023 www.northjersey.com. The kinds of people their own parents work for. That the athletic directors job.. It happened during the Camden County Tournament Championship game between Camden High School and Eastside High School. Community Forums on the 2023-2024 District Budget Tuesday, February 28 th, 6 p.m. - Virtual Forum hosted by the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) CLICK HERE to join the virtual forum.. Wednesday, March 1st, 6 p.m. International High School auditorium, 200 Grand St., or CLICK HERE to watch the live stream.. Thursday, March 2nd, 6 p.m. Eastside High School, 150 Park Ave. or Lyde also told Ugboaja the school could accept international students with I-20s, Ugboaja said. He told me he was going to get it fixed, but I couldn't handle that any more. So far, there has been no official acknowledgement of the seismic, sexually charged side of this investigation by anyone in law enforcement. Probably. 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For now, however, he thinks about other opportunities he had after that big international tournament in 2011, and how his career might have been different had he never met Griles. Paterson officials 'highly troubled' by latest bombshell in scandal that began with report of 6 overseas players living in coach's condo and widened to include concerns of human trafficking. He plays wheelchair basketball, he said, hoping for a scholarship. We heard strong opposition to the changes from both the faculty and our community. 0:57. Now, through interviews with players, parents, coaches and other sources, NJ Advance Media can trace the remarkable circumstances under which players were recruited, lured and even hijacked to New Jersey. For Andrea and fellow Boyle Heights Beat reporters, news of the $25-million college entrance racketeering scandal hit like a gut punch. "It's very unfortunate that she's caught up in the middle of something like this.". Once students fake their way in, do the parents keep paying to have someone fix the tests they take in class? No one was seriously injured in the melee. Their stories, when taken together, reveal just how far a high school program would go to scour the earth for talent, only to then discard many of the same players. The stories, including allegations of human trafficking, highlighted how players on the boys and girls teams suddenly and mysteriously arrived with promises of playing time, eventual college scholarships and new homes, according to interviews with players and internal school documents. Ejiofor, now 18 after graduating from Eastside 10 months ago, didn't know it then, but she violated immigration laws when she entered Eastside, which is not authorized to issue I-20s. [4] Unfortunately, there are a pair of federal investigations underway related to the saga which first popped up on our radar screen almost two months ago. "Over there if you're that tall, you're like a monster. Olson, the recruiting analyst, said he watched Aquino play twice in January and marveled over her agility for a player of her size. NJ Advance Media staff writer Matt Stypulkoski contributed to this report. She wants to major in psychology and build a career helping students who feel as stressed as she does now. In the last week, these students have looked across the divide at youngsters their own age who live in an alternate universe of abundance and entitlement. The districts investigation last year had found that some players involved in the scandal had registered at Eastside, rather than through traditional channels. Three employees fired, two others disciplined. "No, I'm not her legal guardian," Ayala said when reached by phone earlier this year. EHS ASB. Two days later, Mathews issued a statement through his attorney confirming our reporting. And at 6-foot-5, Ejiofor led Eastside to a pair of Passaic County championships, earning scholarship offers from Duke, LSU, Syracuse, Rutgers and several others. She said students had turned down offers that were close to free rides because they couldnt come up with the several thousand dollars still due. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. "He made a lot of promises about the future, about getting Selwyn to a university, about getting him to Division 1," Selwyn's father, Edwin, said. Her stay with Ayala did not last long, according to coaches and the report, even though he is still listed as her guardian on school documents. A fight broke out during the Camden County Tournament championship game between Camden High School and Eastside High School. Off the court, Ejiofor said she lived in a home on East 22nd Street owned by Shirley Jordan, whose daughter, Natalie, is a district teacher and an Eastside track coach. That's room and board, she has to eat and that takes money. See the documents, African players are flocking to top N.J. basketball teams. I would call the school about that.". Good question. Blessing Ejiofor (left) and Andrea Aquino pose in a picture posted to Twitter in November 2015. After a series of winning seasons and strong showings in the state tournaments, Eastsides girls and boys teams finished with losing records this year. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). "As a result of the information that Andrea has shared, it is evident that Andrea may be the victim of neglect, child exploitation, emotional abuse and child endangerment," the report reads. Rodriguez had done well in the classroom and earned a scholarship offer to play volleyball at Purdue University. Even adults gawked and teased her, the ESPN article said. East Side High School is a four-year public high school in Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Newark Public Schools. Rick Singer how he was describing it, theres three ways to get into college, he said. From news that sixoverseas players were living with the boys coach to the discovery of an international pipeline funneling athletes to Paterson since 2013 and the waves of fallout pounding the school and its officials, here's the reporting of Steve Politi and Matt Stanmyre: *The Fast Break: How final 2 players escaped Eastside. 2 Morristown, 45-40, the No. Similarly, it is unclear whether the USSS investigation into Thornblade is tied to the alleged credit card fraud or some of the more illicit, sexually charged allegations. All rights reserved (About Us). It took3teachers who risked everything tohelp the final 2 African players escape the mess at Eastside High. State Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex) called on Attorney General Christopher Porrino to investigate Paterson Eastside. Meanwhile, sources tell us the Greenville county sheriffs office which was first made aware of the allegations involving the clubs finances in May of this year has launched an internal investigation into the proximity of one of its officers to the related scandals. They said they came because Juan Griles, the basketball coach at Eastside, sold a future that this working-class family from Caugas could not resist. Support NJ.com, Matthew Stanmyre and Steve Politi | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, Juan Griles, the basketball coach at Eastside. He came to New Jersey that fall, just before basketball season began, and moved into a house where Griles lived in Somerset. Meanwhile, the adults linked to Aquino -- Ayala, Lyde, Sparks founder Shane Gerald and Sparks coach Keith Gilchrist -- have not responded to numerous phone calls and text messages asking about the player. According to our sources, members of this secret club would pay an estimated $5,000 to $10,000 a month to enjoy its amenities including youthful sex partners provided from nearby high schools. "And I said, 'Yes!'. Some of the Sparks' coaches also are on the Eastside girls staff. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Or an issue youd like to address proactively? District officials have not yet announced whether he will return to that role. But Esteban, who admits crying when he read the first story about the Eastside scandal, said Selwyn was . * Ousted athletic director: There are others at school involved in scandal. What if she owed money to drug dealers? He was visiting family in Queens and playing for a club team in a tournament at Eastside. Donald Trump Teases Delay Of 2020 Election, Internet Goes Bonkers, SC Teen Honor Student Falsely Accused Of Attempted Murder In Mall Shooting, Lawsuit Says, SC Vocational Rehab Scandal: Report Issued, Clemson Universitys Office Of Planned Giving Is Living In An Alternative Reality Right Now, South Carolina Insurance Fraud Sting: 18 Charged, LIVE FEED Murdaugh Murders Trial: Day Twenty-Seven, South Carolina Freedom Caucus Files Lawsuit, Murdaugh Murders Trial: Attorney General Stands And Delivers. Lopez is the author most recently of Independence Day: What I Learned About Retirement, From Some Whove Done It and Some Who Never Will. His book The Soloist, inspired by his columns on his relationship with a Juilliard-trained homeless person, was a Los Angeles Times and New York Times best-seller, winner of the PEN USA Literary Award for Non-Fiction, and the subject of a Dream Works movie by the same name. "I really thought for me, right now, I was supposed to be playing in the NBA. 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