Football players are often easy targets for impersonators, as they wear helmets for a living and don’t have the same kind of face-recognition other athletes might.
And it helps when the crook has the same name.
According to the Associated Press, a man named Michael Rumph was arrested for pretending to be former NFL cornerback Mike Rumph, for the purposes of renting a home on Long Island.
Local prosecutors say the man pleaded not guilty to identity theft, criminal impersonation and possessing a forged instrument, and he’s free on $500 bond. They said the man had a pair of forged pay stubs, and a letter claiming to be from his employer.
The real Mike Rumph was a first-round pick in the 2002 NFL Draft out of the University of Miami, and played for the 49ers, Washington, and briefly with the Rams, before retiring in 2008.