When an instance of catfishing shocks even the master catfish debunker Nev Schulman, that’s when you know it’s real. An NBA star and an aspiring model were caught in the middle of a controversy when the police got involved…
The Act of Catfishing
Catfishing is a new-age popular term describing a fake internet profile who is pretending to be someone else. The term even coined an entire show dedicated to the act of catfishing. The host of the show, Nev Schulman, even became involved with this very case, saying, “What this catfish was able to accomplish is not only sophisticated, but incredibly manipulative, emotionally very traumatic, and at the same time wildly creative and somewhat impressive.â€
The Police Want Him
Chris Anderson was playing with The Nuggets during a crazy NBA season. Anderson, also known as Birdman, was driving to the Pepsi Center in Denver for a game. He ended up getting pulled over… But, it wasn’t for a broken tail light.
Search Warrant
The officers told him that they had been trying to get in touch all day and caught him on the road. That’s when he learned there were other officers heading to his home with a search warrant… He was shocked. What did he do wrong?
Not An Average Unit
The unit heading to his own was the Internet Crimes Against Children unit. They work with cases related to child pornography and rapists. Chris wasn’t sure why he would be of interest with such a unit…
Calling A Lawyer
Chris, still not knowing what was happening, called his lawyer. The officers said that he wasn’t under arrest and there wasn’t anything to worry about… yet.
Temporary Ban
The coach caught wind of the situation before he even got there and didn’t allow Chris into the stadium. No one even knows what he was under investigation for, but being investigated was enough to be banned from the stadium. He ended up going home.
Spreading like Wildfire
Now that the team knew, it was only time before it made it to the media. The story began getting covered on major news outlets, even though there was still barely any info available. When he got home, news vans were already swarming his home.
Allegations
Chris somehow made it into his home undetected. He turned on the TV where he learned of the allegations. It seemed as though he was being investigated for child molestation. He felt sick.
This Was Out of Hand
These allegations were coming out at a bad time… The Nuggets were in the playoffs. They were playing against the Lakers that very night, a huge competitor. He sat at home and watched his life fall apart.
Chris Andersen
Chris was born in Iola, Texas. He’s played basketball ever since he was a little kid. He always said that basketball kept him out of trouble when he was a kid.
Dream Job
He worked at his talent for a few years before he got the call to join the Nuggets. He quickly became a fan favorite.
AKA Birdman
He became Birdman after he began growing his tattoo collection. He became one of the most recognizeable players in the NBA. He was living his dream!
Tatted Up
Birdman became a fan favorite very fast. He had some signature moves that everyone loved… Then, things came crashing down.
Not Going Well
Birdman was staring his future in the face. This wasn’t out in the public yet, but he had just signed a deal with the New Orleans Hornets. This was now in danger…
Bad Past
This wasn’t the first time he’s been under fire for something. In January of 2006, Chris was removed from the NBA because he was caught using drugs. He was banned for two years but was able to get back on track with his life. He called it a blessing in disguise because it changed his life for the better.
Going to Rehab
He went into rehab and overcame his addiction. Through this, he became an even better basketball player since his health was up 100%.
For the Better
Chris had become a changed man. The NBA was even so impressed with his progress that he was welcomed back to the association, and the Nuggets even took him back in.
Paris Roxanne
This is 17-year-old Paris Roxanne. Paris lived in Southern California and was an aspiring model.
E-Model
At the time of the allegations, she had several thousand followers on social media. Now, she has a pretty substantial career. She’s modeled for Playboy, Maxim, and many other smaller publications.
Her Life Now
Now 25, Paris travels around for photo shoots and has nearly 500K followers who adore her. She is dating 73-year-old “American Pie” songer Don McLean. When she was 17, she spent her days trying to get in touch with celebrities and get her name out there. That’s when she reached out to Chris.
Facebook Pages
On a whim, she commented on one of his fan pages about chatting. She never thought she’d get a response…
Getting a Reply
Chris ended up messaging her on his personal Facebook page saying, “I see you are a fan.” Paris was excited that she finally got someone to respond.
Kind of Secretive
Paris never told her real age to Chris, she didn’t want to ruin anything. They were both attracted to each other and went on to see each other. Chris flew her out to Denver for a weekend.
Time to Meet!Â
Paris got off the plane and met Chris at the airport. It was really him! They hung out at his house with his friends. They played Xbox and played with his dog.
Some Things Didn’t Add Up
There were a few things that were kind of off with Chris. For example, when they were on Xbox, he said, “Look, your sister must be online.” Paris was confused because she didn’t have an Xbox… But, she didn’t say anything about it and wrote it off.
More Weirdness…
Chris asked Paris when her trip to Africa was. She wasn’t going on a trip to Africa… When she told him, they figured it was a weird misunderstanding. They had no idea…
Intro: Tom Taylor
In another conversation, Paris brought up a friend named Tom Taylor. Tom said that he was a friend of Chris’s, and that he actually encouraged Paris to go and meet Chris. Yet… Chris had never heard of a Tom Taylor. Paris assumed he was joking around and dropped it.
Paris and Tom
Chris left for practice and let Paris hang out in his house. She ended up texting Tom about what Chris said, but he said that Chris was just joking around. Paris said in an interview, “He was telling me, ‘Go take a picture of this, go put his hat on.’ I remember being like, ‘I’m not going to go through the guy’s stuff.”
Things Got Sour with Tom
After a great weekend, Paris flew back to California. She was happy to have finally met Chris and was feeling good. Then, things turned when she told Tom that she was going to see Blake Griffin of the LA Clippers…
Aggressive Reaction
That’s when Paris got a very scary text from Tom. She said that “He was going to send somebody down there…he was going to have me [assaulted], and murdered, and thrown on the side of the street.” He also told her that Chris sent him her nude photos, and he was going to leak them.
Tom Had Proof
Tom then sent Paris brook that he had her photos… She was mortified. She didn’t know what else to do but to go to her mother for help.
Trouble is Brewing
Paris told her mom and got herself in a lot of trouble. Her mother was extremely upset to find out all of the things Paris lied about… Her age, her whereabouts, who she was talking to… But, her mother decided to put those on hold to handle the grown men who were blackmailing her teenage daughter.
Getting An Email
Chris received an email from Paris’ mother. She was threatening him with legal action about the nude photo scandal. Chris and his lawyer decided to pay $3,000 to make her stop. Chris was appalled to learn Paris’ real age… He prayed that this would just go away. Unfortunately, Paris’ mother took the money and then went to the police. That wasn’t the biggest part of this scandal…
The Investigation
The police went into a fully fledged investigation of Chris and Paris. As the investigation went on, people continued to believe that Chris was a pedophile. Then, police found something odd with the location of the text messages…
Paris, Chris, and… Shelly?
Police ended up finding a bizarre location that this pinged between the texts from Chris to Paris and the texts from Paris to Chris… They then realized that Paris and Chris weren’t actually texting each other, but a woman named Shelly Chartier.
Shelly Chartier
Shelly was a top tier catfish. She called herself a loner… Her mother got sick when she was in sixth grade, so Shelly had to drop out in order to care for her. She struggled with her personal life. She took to the internet to get away from her reality.
Repeat Offender
As it turns out, Shelly was not a stranger to catfishing. Paris, Tom, and Chris were not the first accounts she made. She used to make fake profiles of celebrities to get people to talk to her. She even used Brody Jenner.
Master Manipulator
Shelly ended up creating Tom when Paris got apprehensive about meeting Chris. She had already told Chris that Paris was coming, so now she had to convinced the real Paris to go to make it all work. “I know you really like Chris. I can let you guys meet, he wants to meet you”
Starts with Paris
Shelly found Paris when she saw her comments on Chris’s fan page on Facebook. All this time, it had been Shelly talking to Paris. Chris and Paris ended up never talking to each other over the phone.
Making Paris’ Fake Account
Just for fun, Shelly decided to create a fake account of Paris to get Chris’s attention. In a wild turn of events, it worked.
She Was… Bored
Shelly decided to mess with these people’s lives because she was bored and she knew she could extort money out of the NBA player. She main goal was to blackmail Chris with the underage photos to get money.
She Got Convicted
The police tracked Shelly down and arrested her. She was convicted of misuse and fraud. She got a one-year prison sentence in Canada. There is still a warrant out for her arrest in Colorado… If she was ever caught in the US, she would be facing a 24-year jail term.
Chris Is Declared Innocent
Paris and Chris ended up both being the victims in this case. The two never spoke after the allegations came out. Now, Chris is married and still playing in the NBA. Paris is traveling the world with her boyfriend. Both are content with leaving the past in the past.