Another article about Andy and the imposter:
BRADENTON, Fla. — Pirates infielder Andy Phillips denies accusations of harassment by a California woman, and Major League Baseball agrees with him.
"Our investigation is 99 percent complete, and so far there is not a hint of truth to (the allegations)," MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said Friday.
Phillips, 31, said he and the woman are victims of someone who posed as Phillips.
"This is the craziest thing I've ever been aware of," Phillips said. "I didn't know what was happening until my agent called and told me."
Andy wonders why him:
"The frustrating thing is, people who know me know it's not something I would do," Phillips said. "But people who don't know me ... it's out there on the Internet, so that's what they will think."
...Phillips wonders why he was targeted by the imposter.
"I have a wife and a daughter. I do a lot of work with kids and with churches," Phillips said. "This (allegation) is a distraction. Why would someone do a sick thing like that? The sad thing is, I hear this kind of thing happens quite often."
..."I guess if some guy was going to (impersonate) a Yankee who not everyone in the world would recognize, I'd be the one," Phillips said.
I dunno. My guess is the guy picked on Andy because he looks like Andy. The porn star's friend was supposedly a baseball fan who recognized him.
This imposter, whoever it is, must look a lot like Andy. With the Internet and all, he couldn't just count on his victim not knowing what Andy really looked like. He had to assume that she would at least Google the name, if she didn't know who Andy Phillips was. And if you look like Andy Phillips, you're not going to get very far claiming to be Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, or CC Sabathia.
The photos kind of bother me. Ms. Delia says he had photos of himself with hanging out with other Yankee players, as well as of his supposed wife and baby daughter. How many people know Andy Phillips just had a daughter? Even his own agent didn't seem to know that, talking about Andy's "children" in an earlier statement, when he just has the one.
This suggests a lot of planning and preparation...or maybe inside info? Perhaps he's just a careful researcher and a Photoshop whiz. But I can't help wondering if the imposter is a member of Andy's family. A lot of identity theft is committed by relatives of the victim. That would explain the man's knowledge of Andy's family, his access to personal photos, and the physical resemblance.
In any case, it seems like it would be pretty easy to find out the identity of the imposter. The cell phone number, the e-mails - they can be traced. Even if Andy doesn't want to press charges, you'd think Ms. Delia would.
Labels: Andy Phillips
