Sometime in the last few weeks, Gavilan College Head Football
Coach John Lango says he got a tip his new assistant might be a
serial impostor.
Sometime in the last few weeks, Gavilan College Head Football Coach John Lango says he got a tip his new assistant might be a serial impostor.
In a statement to police on Tuesday, Lango said he had hired the coach – now known as Fred McGrew – under the pretense that he was ex-NFL linebacker Larry McGrew.
Lango had announced Gavilan’s hiring of Lawrence McGrew, formerly of the New England Patriots, on the Internet site where he had advertised the coaching vacancy. McGrew moved to Gilroy from Colorado and started work in early August.
But then someone from a “Hampton College” phoned him and warned that “a guy named Larry McGrew is a fake and goes from college to college coaching teams.”
The recently fired Fred McGrew now faces a felony charge for falsely assuming the identity of the retired pro. Arrested on Wednesday, McGrew confessed his elaborate – if inexpert – hoax to Gilroy police.
McGrew was arraigned Friday in county court in San Martin. Judge Edward Lee allowed him to be released pending a Friday court date, when he is expected to enter a plea.
McGrew told police that the real Larry McGrew is his uncle.
“Frederick Lawrence William McGrew III” was the full name he gave police. His driver’s license, from Colorado, lists it as “Frederick W. McGrew.” In court Friday, he was introduced as “Frederick Lawrence McGrew.” When Judge Lee asked if this was his real name, McGrew replied, “Yes, it is.”
It’s unknown whether Fred McGrew got a string of coaching jobs across the country by assuming Larry McGrew’s identity, although he clearly did so at Gavilan. A Gilroy police check with the Denver Police Department showed a January 2000 arrest for “false information,” but no further information was available.
Regarding the “Hampton College” tip: Gavilan Athletic Director Ron Hannon said the Lango confronted McGrew about the call.
“Fred’s response was it was a college back on the East Coast that was interested in him, that really wanted him, and he had turned them down,” Hannon said.
