25-Year-Old Posed as Dallas ISD Student to Relive Basketball Glory at Hillcrest High, Officials Say

A 25-year-old man who officials say posed as a 17-year-old so he could once again take to the basketball court as a high school athlete attended Dallas high schools for nearly nine months before his arrest last week.

Sidney Bouvier Gilstrap-Portley began the school year at Skyline High School, where he enrolled claiming to be a Hurricane Harvey refugee. Months later, he moved to Hillcrest High School and joined the basketball team, Dallas ISD officials said. As a student there, Gilstrap-Portley dated a 14-year-old classmate, the girl’s mother said.

Gilstrap-Portley, who was arrested Friday night, faces a charge of tampering with government records. He was booked into the Dallas County Jail last week and has since bonded out, according to court records.

He has no previous criminal history.

Gilstrap-Portley enrolled at Skyline as Rashun Richardson at a time when the district had opened its doors to hurricane evacuees, said Dallas ISD spokeswoman Robyn Harris.

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In October, Gilstrap-Portley enrolled at Hillcrest High as a freshman, Harris said. She said that Dallas ISD officials believe his primary motivation was to play basketball, though he told them he was homeless and had come to Dallas unaccompanied because of Hurricane Harvey.

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Dallas ISD officials said Gilstrap-Portley’s charade came to an end after one of his former coaches from North Mesquite High School saw him playing at a tournament in April and recognized him as one of his players who graduated from high school seven years ago.

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Phillip Randall, a basketball coach at North Mesquite High School, said he wasn’t the coach who saw Gilstrap-Portley at the tournament, but that he did coach him until he graduated in 2011.

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High school girlfriend

The mother of a Hillcrest High freshman said that her daughter started dating Gilstrap-Portley in January. The woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said her 14-year-old knew the man as Rashun Richardson and thought he was 17.

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The woman said she had never approved of her daughter’s relationship and wasn’t comfortable with her dating a 17-year-old freshman.

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“He was always respectful to me. He said he understood my concerns but said that he was only 17 and that he didn’t see a problem with them dating.”

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The woman said she never suspected Gilstrap-Portley was leading a double life until a detective contacted her Monday. The detective told her that Gilstrap-Portley, who has a young child, claimed he was looking to start over his athletic career by playing for a high school again, the mother said.

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