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ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- It's important to support your local school athletic clubs.
But this guy might be taking it too far.
The Minnesota High School League has banned a man from attending games following multiple incidents where he allegedly jumped onto the backs of student athletes.
Sherwin Shayegan, 28, was seen in St. Cloud, Minn., on Thursday, and had previously been arrested and pleaded guilty to two assault charges in Montana for jumping on athletes at a soccer game.
David Stead, executive director of the Minnesota State High School League, wrote in a memo that Shayegan "...has been known to mingle in a crowd at a sporting activity and, at a point in time, jump on the back of athletes."
Sheyagan refers to himself as the "Piggyback Bandit," which is also the title bestowed upon him by Stead in his memo to Minnesota schools.
An Associated Press account of Shayegan's offense in Montana gave further detail, describing Judge Bob Wood's sentence of the 250-pound man: "Judge Bob Wood gave [Shayegan] a 360-day suspended jail sentence, fined him $730 and told him to 'go back to Seattle and behave.'"
In apparent confusion about his refused admittance to the game, Stead said that Shayegan called him Friday morning and asked if he was banned from attending high school events in Minnesota. After telling him that he was indeed banned, Shayegan informed Stead that he was on a bus headed back to Seattle, which was hours before Shayegan was reportedly seen in Minneapolis.
An official at Concordia College on Wednesday noticed Shayegan at a college basketball game between Concordia and St. Olaf College in Moorhead, where the Piggyback Bandit was evidently seen pouring water for the team. He was later asked to leave the area.
Earlier this week, a Bismarck, N.D., school official said Shayegan showed up at a game and "there were a number of attempts to get piggyback rides, and he was successful at a couple of them."
It's probably best to leave these kind of stunts to the mascots.
