Fil-Am basketball player nabbed for allegedly using fake passport

Agents of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) arrested a Filipino-American professional basketball player for allegedly attempting to enter the country using a fake passport.

In a statement, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tangsingco said the suspect Avery Roberto Scharer, 36, was nabbed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on December 15 upon his arrival from Canada.

An initial investigation showed an immigration officer supposedly noticed major discrepancies and irregularities in Scharer’s Philippine passport when he presented his travel documents.

This prompted the personnel to refer the passport to his duty supervisor who then endorsed it to the BI’s forensic documents laboratory for an examination.

A certification from the laboratory confirmed the passport was fake.

“Our forensic equipment confirmed the suspicion of our officers. The Philippine passport he presented contained tampered pages, including the biographical data page. His attempt to conceal these alternations cannot escape the scrutiny of our inspectors,” Tangsingco said.

Further, the BI chief called out Scharer after he supposedly posted on social media that he was wrongfully detained by immigration authorities.

“Posting false information on social media to gain sympathy despite the violation further manifests undesirability. There are no sacred cows, as any foreign national who have violated immigration laws and presented fake documentation will be arrested,” he added.

Scharer was turned over to the BI legal division for inquest proceedings and will remain at the agency’s detention center in Taguig City pending the resolution of the case.

It was gathered that Scharer played for various collegiate, amateur and professional basketball leagues in the US and Asia. In 2015, he was drafted fifth overall by the Wang’s Basketball Couriers in the Philippine Basketball Association D-League.

GMA News Online reached out to Scharer for his side, but has yet to receive a response as of posting time.—Sundy Locus/GMA Integrated News