We wrote about it when it happened and it been a lingering cloud over him — when Miami’s Chirs Andersen (the Birdman) would have a good game in the NBA Finals (the peak of his professional career), somebody in the comments on this blog would bring up the police raid on his Denver home more than a year ago where they took his computer and said they were investigating some pretty horrible charges, including him having child pornography.
It was not true.
The investigation turned into a complex international case of stolen identity and a crime committed against Andersen by a woman in Canada. This week prosecutors in the case said they would not be charging Andersen with any crime, that he was the victim here.
Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated had the clearest explanation of this I have seen anywhere. It’s a longer excerpt than I prefer to quote on this site (you should go read the original source) but in this case it’s needed to attempt to make things clear.
At some point during his tenure with the Nuggets, Andersen had a consensual sexual relationship with a woman from California. Though she had allegedly misrepresented her age to Andersen (she said she was 21), he appears to have broken no laws in Colorado, where the statutory age of consent is 17.
Concurrent with that, Andersen was the victim of cyber identity theft at the hands of a different woman in Canada. The identity thief was able to access Andersen’s email, social media outlets, his phone, bank records, and even his video game console.
Posing as Andersen, the Canadian woman allegedly orchestrated the initial tryst between the player and the California woman. She then began communicating and corresponding with the woman from California. At one point, representing herself as Andersen, the imposter began making demands — some of them, sources say, sexually explicit — of the California woman.
The woman believed that it was Andersen making the demands and felt increasingly threatened. Eventually she went to the authorities. The sexually suggestive threats triggered the investigation of the Internet Crimes Against Children unit. When Douglas County Sheriff’s office executed its search warrant on Andersen’s home in Larkspur, Colorado, 40 miles south of Denver, police took his computer and other electronic equipment.
Investigators in the U.S. and Canada worked to connect dots, they amassed more than 4,000 pages of documents and found tentacles in multiple states. According to sources, there were allegedly multiple victims in multiple states — and may be other athletes whose identities were involved — but investigators believe one woman is at the center of it all.
The woman in Canada was 29 and has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography and transmitting those images, impersonation of another, extortion, and using threats.
All too often charges like this get mentioned in the press and the fact the person was not charged or the charges were dramatically reduced gets buried. That shouldn’t happen here. Andersen committed no crime.
Andersen re-signed to play with the Heat this season, where he will be a key role player in their drive for a third consecutive NBA title. Hopefully he can put this all behind him.
