MEMPHIS, TN -
(WMC-TV) – Only on 5, the wife of a Ridgeway High School basketball player
reveals a web of lies and deceit that led to major disappointment when the
entire team was disqualified from a state tournament.
The tattoo on McKinzey Sewell's right shoulder includes his
birthday, May 4th, 1994. A copy of his birth certificate also says he's 18 years old.
"I wanted to go to get my high school diploma," Sewell said.
"At first I wasn't even thinking about basketball."
McKinzey Sewell played basketball for Ridgeway High School this
year until the school discovered his forged transcript and the Roadrunners were
disqualified from the state tournament, just one week after assistant coach
Jimmy McClain was found murdered in his home.
"It started out as one little situation and now supposedly
I'm dating younger girls, I'm 23 years old, and I killed my coach," Sewell
said. "I mourned his loss just like everyone else."
Investigators say the murder is not related to the scandal.
Sewell's aunt, McKini Spain, said Sewell
got his GED at 16 in Louisiana. He moved here to live with her but soon moved
in with a teammate's mother who Spain said got him
into Ridgeway.
"Was I going to go to Ridgeway High School and say what are
y'all doing letting this young man in y'all school?" asked McKini Spain. "No
sir, I wasn't. I was very happy and excited for this young man. He was given a
second opportunity."
"I knew nothing about the paperwork. She told me,"
McKinzey said.
Sewell married his teammate's mom even though she's 16 years older
than he is.
"I did, and I still do," Sewell's wife Chaundrea answered
when asked if she loved him. "The age doesn't matter. Age only determines
how many years you're here. It doesn't determine your intelligence."
She asked we not show her face or use her last name, and to call
her either Chaundrea or Nicole, names she said she had
legally changed for safety in the past.
"I didn't forge nothing. I didn't forge nothing," she said.
Chaundrea said Sewell and his family supplied her the documents which she turned
over to the coach as-is.
Chaundrea said she does not think anyone at Ridgeway forged any of
the documents.
"Nobody knew," she explained. "So the person that needs to own up
to this and take responsibility for their actions is the person who did it."
And that is McKinzey, Chaundrea said.
"Nobody should suffer for another person's mistake. Those
boys are suffering like they are. That's not fair," she added.
Something Sewell said he feels
at least partially responsible for.
"I apologize to my teammates," Sewell said. "This is
our year to win state and I'm sorry I messed that up for them."
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