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Man Scammed Woman for Over $100K Claiming to be NFL Player

James Otis Turner, 49, was initially arrested on sexual assault charges where the victim said he claimed to be a player for the Denver Broncos. Then his web of lies unraveled.
James Otis Turner

A man in Colorado was arrested on Friday, December 28, after a woman claimed that he defrauded her of more than $100,000—all while claiming to be a former player for the Denver Broncos, according to a police report. The charges include felony theft, identity theft, forgery of checks, and fraud by criminal impersonation.

In an unrelated incident in October, James Otis Turner was arrested for sexual assault of a woman who also alleged he claimed to be a member of the Broncos. As a result of the investigation, several women stepped forward saying that Turner had falsely impersonated a Broncos player, including the victim at the center of this most recent arrest.

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It's unclear how Turner managed to pull off the $100,000-plus scam, but police described his scheme as "crafty," because he was able to get that much money.

Turner allegedly preyed on multiple women while masquerading as a fictitious former football player named Dante Sir Foster—a name with a striking similarity to current NFL free agent Donte Foster who most recently spent some time with the Minnesota Vikings. According to the New York Post , Turner even went so far as to create multiple, since-deleted websites with false information about his persona.

“Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants, Arizona Cardinals, and the Pittsburgh Steelers were first to show interest and eventually landed with the Minnesota Vikings for the 2011-2012 season,” one post read. “Unfortunately, due to injury he was unable to play after injuries which brought his season abruptly to an end.”

Another blog from March 2017 identified Turner as Dante Sir Foster and teased the prospect of seeing his “familiar face” around Minneapolis during the team’s upcoming “spring training camp,” which typically starts in mid-July. But as the earlier blog alluded, Turner’s budding career was beset by injuries.

“Dante’s career has been action packed and nothing short of exciting while he has been playing professional football internationally thus far into his career,” the website reads. “Unfortunate, and far too common, injuries have temporarily relocated him back to Texas most recently.”

One woman claimed Turner approached her at a gas station where he got out of a nice car while wearing nice clothes, and asked her if she knew who he was. He told her he was a Broncos player and then inquired about her Valentine's Day plans and asked for her phone number. The woman said she and her family were big Broncos fans and looked him up only to find that no "Dante Sir Foster" had ever played for the Broncos or the Minnesota Vikings. Presumably they did not find his fake websites.

“We’re hoping this will prompt women who did not realize, or did not report that they were a victim of this guy, to come forward,” police spokesman Joe Cybert told the Post