By Alexandra Zayas, Times Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
TAMPA — There's a reason 21-year-old Julious Threatts posed as a 14-year-old to join a peewee football team, his attorney told a judge Tuesday.
"His intent wasn't evil at all," Catherine E. Orazi told Circuit Judge Daniel Perry. "His intent was to regain the stability he had when his father was alive."
His father died when he was 14, Orazi said. That's when he started getting into trouble. First came a petty theft charge. Then came battery, burglary, grand theft, loitering and violation of probation.
In August, he found himself behind bars again, charged with trespassing on school grounds, obstruction by a disguised person and violation of probation.
He used the alias Chad Jordan to pose as a 14-year-old boy, join the Tampa Bay Youth Football League and try to register at D.W. Webb Middle School, deputies said. To get on the team, Jordan used a fake birth certificate.
It wasn't the first time he used a fake birth certificate or posed as a teen, a prosecutor said. His attorney said he tried to pass himself off as 15 to his own probation officer.
"It was a very strange episode," she said. She said Threatts has a mental health diagnosis, but didn't say what it was, and said there might be a 24-hour treatment facility where he can stay.
"What 24-hour-program did you find that has a fence?" the judge asked. "The problem I have is we've got a guy here who keeps trying to be a 14, 15 year old and trying to get in with 14, 15 year olds. And I don't think that's a good idea."
He asked a prosecutor about another ongoing investigation. They did not get into details in court about what kind of investigation it was, and Hillsborough County Sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said she cannot confirm the existence of an investigation.
But in court, the prosecutor said there was a problem with the investigation — authorities could not identify a minor.
"Did they ever get into his Facebook?" the judge asked.
The prosecutor wasn't sure.
"Find out," he said.
He reset Threatts' probation violation hearing to Oct. 12, and gave the prosecutor an order:
"Find out what's going on in that investigation."
Alexandra Zayas can be reached at azayas@sptimes.com or (813) 310-2081.
