We have heard stories of twisted adults lying about their ages to get one last crack at high school sports glory. We have seen it in basketball and football, especially. In this latest attempt at circumventing age qualifications for high school sports, a 22-year-old man allegedly used a false identity and misrepresented his age to enroll in a Minnesota high school and join the football team, as students claimed the district “failed us.”
22-Year-Old High School Football Player Arrested For Lying about His Age
Kelvin Luebke was arrested Sunday after high school officials at White Bear Lake uncovered the shocking scam. Luebke used falsified documents to enroll as a senior, local news reported.
Principal Russell Reetz stated in a letter to parents on Tuesday, that a person “over the age of 21” had successfully deceived the district’s security measures to become a student at the school.
Luebke, who was referred too as “KJ”, was not directly mentioned by the school, but news of KJ’s master plan spread like wildfire and a student from a nearby high school confirmed that he was the suspect in question, according to news reports.
Luebke Was On White Lake Bear HS Football Team Roster: How Did He Trick District Officials?
While being interviewed, the student also revealed that Luebke was on the football team’s roster, which the principal confirmed, saying the 22-year-old man appeared “to have provided fraudulent documentation and a false identity to enroll.”
According to reports, White Bear Lake High School mandates that enrollees submit three required documents to the school: verification of birth date (birth certificate), proof of address (driver’s license or utility bill), and immunization records.
“Upon our initial investigation, we have determined that while enrolling this individual, we followed our enrollment process, which is as rigorous as state law allows,” Reetz added.
How Many Minors Did Luebke Come In Contact With While On White Bear Lake HS Football Team?
The case is still being investigated, so it’s unclear what age Luebke was using on the false documents. But the fact that he’s 22-years-old creates a bigger can of worms.
Just arresting him for impersonating a student doesn’t solve the problem. The school and district still needs to find out how Luebke was able to pull this off and if he had any accomplices in this deception. Making sure he didn’t have any contact with underage students is also something that must be investigated now that the cat is out of the bag.
So while Reetz also assured parents that Luebke was banned from district property, the extent of the damage he has caused at White Bear Lake High School is unknown.
“Please rest assured that the safety and well-being of all students is our top priority. I am grateful to the staff members, families and students who saw something and decided to report it,” he wrote in the email.
Parents Are Outraged
The parents of White Bear Lake and surrounding high schools are still very concerned about how Luebke was able to falsify documents and enroll in high school with kids as young as 13. It’s also not certain how long he was enrolled in the high school, but he could have seriously harmed someone on the football field as well.
“I’m scared that they’re not keeping our kids safe. I don’t understand how this man got into my kid’s school,” parent April Jorgenson told CBS News while crying over the fact that Luebke allegedly was around children. Rumors are also circulating on social media about an alleged criminal background.
“You need to have a record and you need to have a physical to do these activities. We just can’t figure out how this happened,” Jorgenson added.
One unidentified student told news outlets that the “district failed us.”
