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Malcolm Walker, 39, the father of Colorado Buffaloes linebacker Mantrez Walker, was recently arrested and charged him with theft by deception by Gainesville Police in Georgia. He is accused of fraudulently posing as a college football recruiter and scamming families out of thousands of dollars.
“He talks the talk, but, unfortunately, that’s all he’s got going for him. He’s just stealing these people’s money and leaving them with absolutely nothing,” First Lt. Kevin Holbrook of the Gainesville Police Department told Fox 5 Atlanta News.
Malcolm Walker’s arrest comes after football coach Phyllip Becoats filed a report with police, alleging that he was duped by Walker. He says Walker called him about Gainesville High School senior B.J. Bailey and claimed coaches at the University of Colorado wanted Bailey to come for a recruiting visit. Walker’s son, Mantrez, committed to play for the Buffaloes in 2024.
Becoats says Walker told him that he had procured airfare, hotel, and game tickets for the recruiting trip and just needed payment of around $1,000 to make it happen. When it came time to go to Colorado, he says Walker canceled the trip and for six months promised that it would be rescheduled.
After numerous delays and excuses, Becoats finally asked for a refund and Walker told him he would get his money back in five days. He was never repaid.
“He kept blowing me off and blowing me off and then that’s when I just got to the point like, ‘Man, I ain’t even going to worry about it and I’m just going to go up here to Gainesville Police Department and file a report on it,'” Becoats said.
Since Malcolm Walker’s arrest, First Lt. Holbrook says, “We’ve been notified by multiple law enforcement agencies, multiple individuals who have said, ‘Hey, that’s the same guy who did this to us.'”
Holbrook believes Walker has scammed people out of tens of thousands of dollars with the promise of college football recruiting help. “We’ve been in contact with investigators from far South Georgia to the state line at Valdosta. So he’s been a very busy man,” he said.
In a social media post he wrote following his arrest, Malcolm Walker said, “There are specifics that coaches and organizations look for and your child may not be that one that they are in search of but that doesn’t mean stop trying other opportunities for your child and that definitely doesn’t mean that it’s my fault that whatever dreams we may have wanted to come through, sometimes fail.”