San Francisco 49ers' response to impersonation complaint questioned by alleged victim
A former complainant says she reported a man posing as a 49ers player to the team months before his arrest, contradicting the franchise's claim it had no prior knowledge.
A woman who says she was defrauded by a man claiming to be San Francisco 49ers player Daejon Love filed a complaint on the team's website in December, eight months before Love was arrested. Gwen Herndon wrote that a federal investigation was underway into the impersonation and that the scheme was harming the team's reputation. The 49ers replied by email, stating they could not comment on ongoing investigations but thanked her for the information and advised her to contact law-enforcement agencies.
Herndon told ESPN she received no further communication from the organization after that email. The franchise had previously told reporters that it had not received any reports about Love until the FBI contacted the team in August. The discrepancy between the team's earlier statement and Herndon's claim raises questions about how the organization handled the matter.
The 49ers declined to comment further, citing the ongoing FBI investigation.