Posted on 06/19/2002 11:10:35 AM PDT by marshmallow
A man claiming to be the brother of a Hollywood actor befriended Gov. Jesse Ventura's son, Tyrel, and lived in the governor's mansion in the summer of 2000 before state police concluded he was an impostor and kicked him out.
State police acknowledged the incident on Tuesday, and although they did not identify the man, Stewart Peters, 22, a Twin Cities man, admitted the ruse in an interview with the Star Tribune.
"It was a wonderful experience," said Peters, who describes himself as a rap artist. "If you sneak your way in there, I would recommend it. They had great food. It happened. I would do it again."
The amount of time the man stayed at the mansion is disputed. Dan Creed, the former residence manager who was laid off by Ventura, said he was there about a month. Col. Ann Beers, head of the State Patrol, said it was probably less than a month "but in that neighborhood." John Wodele, Ventura's spokesman, said Tyrel Ventura, 22, said the man was there only a week and a half.
Wodele quoted Tyrel as saying he was young, naive and duped by the impostor. "He conned me, what can I say?" Wodele said Tyrel told him.
Beers said the family had posted a notice at the mansion telling staff and security he was a guest and should be treated as family. She said Tyrel was trying to advance his film career, and the impostor said he had Hollywood connections.
"He stayed in the guest room. The chefs prepared food for him. The housekeepers did his laundry," Creed said. "If he needed a ride someplace, one of us did that for him." State troopers, who provide security for the mansion, gave him rides in their cars, Creed said.
The man claimed to be Coleman Hughes, brother of actor Jonathan Taylor Thomas on the TV show "Home Improvement." But after Tyrel became suspicious of Peters, he talked to troopers who ran a check on him, spoke to him and found he was an impostor. "We evicted him from the mansion," Beers said.
The account of the impostor is the latest in an unraveling story of life at the governor's mansion involving Tyrel Ventura and his guests.
The Star Tribune has obtained a memorandum on "issues concerning Tyrel" that was marked "confidential" and described several incidents and recommendations on how to handle his guests in the future. Creed said he wrote the memo and gave it to First Lady Terry Ventura and Steven Bosacker, Ventura's chief of staff.
In the May 2001 memo Creed said a guest of Tyrel's was carried into the mansion at 2:30 a.m. and taken to a bedroom where he threw up on a bedspread and in a hat. "The hat full of vomit was left on the night table," Creed wrote.
Wodele said that Tyrel told him the man was a cousin, and that he brought him to the mansion because the cousin had had too much to drink and shouldn't be driving. He later apologized to the staff and offered to help clean it up.
In another incident, a cleaning woman found two guests asleep in the mansion's family room. Creed said the woman "was frustrated over the messes she has had to clean up from parties" and was not tactful when she asked them to get out so she could clean the room. Terry Ventura then wrote "a scathing letter" about the incident, saying she was "very upset that Ty's friends had been 'ordered' out of the 'public areas.' "
Creed made recommendations in his memo to tighten mansion security, adding that Tyrel and Terry Ventura should be treated with respect, but that Tyrel must maintain the dignity of the residence. Of Terry Ventura he wrote, "she is a protective mother. . . . That is her right. The First Lady reacts with emotions at times when she feels her family is being threatened."
Peters, the impostor, called Jesse Ventura an "excellent individual." On Tuesday he did a funny impression of Ventura speaking, and said he'd done it for him at the mansion.
He said he pretended to be someone else so he could be in a movie Tyrel was directing. "He invited me to live in the mansion, and the story went on. I was basking in the delights of the catering staff and I enjoyed every minute of it."
Wodele said Creed, "the guy who is making such a big deal about this, was duped also. In fact he played tennis with him." Wodele said that as a result, troopers began checking driver's licenses of Tyrel's friends at the mansion and did background checks.
State police say the incident of the impostor was not a security breach, since they'd been instructed to treat him as family. "We are not going to run criminal histories on the First Lady's family or friends," said Capt. Tom Fraser.
Peters' name came up in connection with another scam. WCCO-TV and KMSP-TV reported he had signed a big free agent deal as a National Hockey League player two years ago. Peters says someone pretending to be a hockey official tricked him. He went so far as to fax a copy of his "contract" to the Star Tribune, KMSP and WCCO.
Peters said he was arrested at 17 for stealing electronics equipment from a store and was arrested at 19 for driving under the influence of alcohol.
Peters has several active warrants for his arrest in connection with small offenses, but doesn't pose any violent public threat, said Apple Valley Sgt. Michael Marben.
"Is he armed and dangerous? Is he a major offender? No," Marben said.
Wodele was asked about having an impostor living in the mansion when Ventura has made a major issue about the importance of security for himself. Wodele said that the impostor was not an ax murderer, and if he were, troopers would have known about it.
There's a big difference, he said, between "someone misrepresenting himself as a movie actor and someone who could bring physical harm to the Venturas."
-- Staff reporter Howie Padilla contributed to this article. Staff librarian Jim Phillips did research for it.
Shoot! I thought this was another G.Davis thread.
But if he doesn't, he's out on his ear.
Good riddance, Jesse. You and your whole dopey-ass family.
No actually the REAL IMPOSTER was Jesse himself.
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