YUMA, AZ -- A 22-year-old man accused of posing as a student at two Yuma high schools told authorities that he wanted to play basketball and hoped to get a college scholarship.
Yuma police on Wednesday arrested Anthony M. Avalos for fraudulently attending Kofa High School and Vista Alternative School intermittently since September 2008.
He was a center on Kofa's basketball team.
Police say Avalos is facing charges of forgery and sexual conduct with a minor and is jailed on more than $110,000 bond.
Court records show Avalos graduated from Crestview (Fla.) High School in 2005.
Authorities say he admitted to creating a fake birth certificate using a word processing program on his laptop computer and used it to enroll in the Yuma schools.
They say Avalos also admitted to having sex with a girl he knew was under age 18 on at least three different occasions.
The Yuma Police Department encourages anyone with information about the investigation to call 928-373-4700, or 78-Crime to remain anonymous.
