"om april 7th, ron craven (attention) walked into the somerville news office and continued a lie he had told friends, family, and anyone who would listen. the difference; this time he was trying to get his elaborate deceptions published in the local paper.
and he was successful. the somerville news published an admiring column crediting craven as an "nba bigwig"-he said he was the director of player development for the seattle supersonics, and still in touch with his local roots.
in an interview that lasted more than 90 minutes, craven told elaborate lies about relationships he claimed to have with sonics players, coaches, and management. in fact, craven admitted to the news this week that he has never met any of the sonics players he claimed to be mentoring.
news staffers were not the only ones fooled by craven's trickery. this week, craven admitted that he lied to dozens of people in the city, including his wife and his brothers, about his nba job.
when he came into the news office, he was wearing a supersonics jump suit. he passed out team t-shirts to friends and family. after the story was posted on somervillenews.com, craven said he went online and anonymously wrote 50 comments under the story lauding himself as an asset to the community and as a hunk.
i don't know why i did it craven now says. i keep coming up with question marks when i think about it.
the lies started in june of 07 when he flew to seattle to meet someone he met on the internet. he told people who asked that he was going out for a job interview and after three more trips out west he claimed that he had been hired. while he was in seattle, craven did catch a few supersonics practice sessions that were open to the public and even caught a few games. i got a sense of the team and how they played he says.
craven said that he then tried to contact sonics general manager sam presti repeatedly while he was in seattle to try to get a job with the team. in the april interview with the news, craven claimed that he had a long time relationship with presti. in a letter from the sonics team, presti said he had no relationship with craven whatsoever. craven never made a connection with presti.
i just wanted to scout and work with the team so bad that i think i started to believe that i did craven said
one person who believed craven worked for the sonics said he would often call after games, claiming to be with the team. i started to get into basketball. i thought i had met someone who worked for the nba. little did i know he was just your average sociopath, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anoymity.
and the lies didn't stop there. craven also admitted to the news that he had used other people's names when he met strangers. he said he told people he was jeff turner, a 6 foot 9 inch former nba player who even die hard basketball fans strain to remember. craven himself is 6 foot 8 and said turner's obscurity was one of the reasons he used the name.
he talked about his career with the nets and the magic. he spoke at length about covering bird and playing with shaq, said a woman who knew craven as jeff turner.
as bizarre as it was, craven seemed to be getting away with the ruses. he first told people in somerville that he had an interview with the sonics last june. and, in addition to telling people he was turner, he also told strangers he was todd lichti, another unremarkable, tall, white, former nba journeyman.
but it seems his thirst for attention, and his trip to the news office, is what finally did him in. the woman who knew him only as jeff turner googled turner's name and saw a picture that didn't match the man she knew.
the woman then called the police, who, she said, then contacted craven to tell him that he was a weirdo, but could not charge him with a specific crime. when she found out his real name, the woman searched the internet for ron craven and found the news article and the dozens of glowing comments posted under it.
from that moment, craven's days pretending to be the director of player development for the seattle supersonics were numbered. the real jeff turner filed a complain with the nba's security divsion. the sonics released a letter unequivocally stating craven has no relationship with the team. reporters in seattle are retracing his steps in that city.
as his many lies are about to come back to haunt him, craven said he is ready to make amends with the family, friends, and community he lied to. "i'm ready to pay the piper."
cool, huh?
you couldn't make that one up. even the name; ron craven!
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