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Creepy Douche Alert at Notre Dame

Friday, October 30, 2009 12:11 PM - By Elie Mystal

Notre Dame Law school logo.JPGIn this season of costumed crusaders, one person has decided to dress up as a Notre Dame 1L. Only he’s not doing it to get candy on Halloween. Instead, he’s just some creepy douchebag that is rolling around.

But he’s freaked out the Notre Dame administration. They felt compelled to send around a warning to the law school:

Dear Members of the Law School Community-

Please be aware that a person identifying himself as a Notre Dame 1L student was in the building yesterday (accompanied by another person). He informally chatted with several individuals and identified himself as either Gary Stearley or Gabriel Stearley. While here, he also utilized various law school services (e.g., fax machine, NDLS logo apparel purchases from SBA). A photo of the individual (taken from Facebook) is attached to this email.

This person is not a Notre Dame student, and it is our understanding that a person with this name has engaged in false-identity behavior elsewhere in the past. The issue has been reported to ND Security. If you see this person in the building, please notify Notre Dame Security immediately at 1-5555.

In the meantime, please remember that despite the collegial setting of the law school, you should always take precautions to protect your personal property while in the building.

After the jump, learn the face of the impostor.

Con Artist Notre Dame.JPG“Gary Stearley” (pictured) is allegedly a professional con artist. He was arrested in Jacksonville in 2001. From the Florida Times-Union:

When Malachi Stearley walked into Shands Jacksonville last spring pretending to be a doctor, he said he thought security would be tight because he’d heard about a baby being stolen there and figured staff would be more wary.

But when he was approached by a hospital official, Stearley said he told the woman he had left his ID in his car.

“She said, ‘OK, Doctor, go right ahead.’ I said [to myself], ‘No, she didn’t. No, she didn’t tell me to go ahead,’” Stearley said yesterday. “Once I got in, that was it. I let my mouth do the work after that. All the hospitals here were easy. Shands was the easiest.”

Stearley, who goes by several aliases including Gary Stearley and has pulled similar stunts in hospitals in other parts of the country, was sentenced yesterday by a Jacksonville judge to six months in county jail. He pleaded guilty to impersonating a physician’s assistant.

Stearley keeps the law school lie going on his MySpace page.

Chances are, this guy is harmless. Here were his motivations for the doctor scam:

He said his fascination with the medical profession, the fact that he could get away with the scam and the respect he got while pretending to be a doctor prompted him to walk into the hospitals as an impostor. He also said the ability to steal pagers and cell phones from the doctor’s lounges to sell for money made the hoax profitable.

When he arrived in town, Stearley said he asked a Jacksonville police officer about the local hospitals while claiming to be a medical student from Detroit. He said the officer told him that if he was into trauma, Shands was the place to go. The officer also told him about a baby having been stolen from Shands.

My guess is that he is just doing “research” for a future gig as a fake Kirkland & Ellis attorney or something. But something tells me that the “respect” he got while impersonating a doctor won’t be transferable to his new profession. And it certainly won’t be as profitable — this isn’t 2007.

But there’s no chance Stearley is going to be caught this weekend. How do you spot an impersonator on Halloween?

Fake doctor’s aide gets 6 months [Florida Times-Union]

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Posted in: Crime, Holidays and Seasons, Law Schools, Notre Dame Law School

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