South Sudanese man, 30, arrested after posing as teen at Windsor high school for six months

Canadian border officers have arrested a South Sudanese man, believed to be 30 years old, who spent the last six months attending Catholic Central High School while posing as a teenager.

Jonathon Nicola, who became a well-known high school basketball player, was being kept Wednesday at the South West Detention Centre.

The Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board is keeping tight-lipped about the situation.

“There’s really not a whole lot to say,” said spokesman Stephen Fields. “Because of the fact this is a matter that’s still outstanding before the federal authorities, obviously we can’t really comment on it. Beyond that there’s not a whole lot to say.”

The Canada Border Services Agency said Wednesday officers arrested Nicola for allegedly contravening the Immigration Refugee Protection Act. He is being detained under the authority of that act. The agency didn’t elaborate on what Nicola, who is in Canada on a student visa, is accused of doing.

There’s really not a whole lot to say.

Nicola had a detention review Tuesday before the Immigration and Refugee Board, which decided he should remain in custody. There is another hearing scheduled for next week.

When asked if there was concern over the thought of a grown man posing as a teenager in one of the board’s schools, Fields said he wouldn’t comment specifically on the Nicola case.

“Generally I can tell you that we have a system of checks and balances in place that whenever international students are coming into any of our schools, we make sure that they have all of the necessary government documentation that they require in order to be in one of our schools,” said Fields.

He also wouldn’t discuss whether the board plans to alert students and parents about the situation.

“Again, generally speaking, if we felt at any time that there is any kind of threat to any of our students at any of our schools, then we would act appropriately,” said Fields.

Nick Brancaccio/Postmedia NewsJonathon Nicola, centre, has been attending Catholic Central as a 17-year-old Grade 11 student.

Nicola, at six-foot-nine and 202 pounds with a shoe size of 16, had been attending Catholic Central as a 17-year-old Grade 11 student. He was also a star on the Catholic Central Comets senior boys’ basketball team.

He was even living with Comets head coach Pete Cusumano through a program called Canada Homestay, which finds homes for foreign students.

Cusumano said Wednesday he wasn’t allowed to talk about the situation.

But back in January, Cusumano told the Star in an interview for a feature story that Nicola was so good for a young ballplayer that he had a shot at going to the NBA.

A few of my friends know of my background.

The group Windsor Hoops, which calls itself a “local basketball resource promoting news, players and results from Windsor,” even posted a “prospect video” that shows Nicola shooting hoops and running drills in the school gym.

Nicola told the Star in the January feature story that he arrived in Windsor on Nov. 22, 2015, just three days before his 17th birthday. He said he left South Sudan, his disease-ridden, wartorn home, for a better life in Windsor.

“A few of my friends know of my background, how we live over there,” he said in January. “I don’t know how many of them have a clue of how it is in Africa.”

Nicola said in January it took him six months to acquire a Canadian student visa.

“With the war going on, terrorism and all this, they make it real double hard,” he said.

Windsor Star