Fake college recruiter Malcolm Walker scammed twin sisters out of nearly $6,000

Walker was arrested earlier this spring by Gainesville Police for theft by deception after falsely claiming to help student-athletes get college scholarships—Two sisters say they lost out on thousands per a Fox 5 Atlanta report
39-year old Malcolm Walker has been accused of ripping off families posing as a fake college recruiter
39-year old Malcolm Walker has been accused of ripping off families posing as a fake college recruiter / Hall County Jail

Back in March, 39-year old Malcolm Walker was arrested by Georgia's Gainesville Police department for theft by deception after falsely claiming to help student-athletes get college scholarships.

Now, according to a report by Fox 5 Atlanta report on Tuesday morning, two more people are coming forward regarding being scammed by Walker. This time, it's two twin sisters saying they were swindled out of thousands of dollars by Walker, who with a scam claimed that he was a college recruiter that could get their kid into a major institution for football.

The latest Georgia police department that's now investigating Walker's latest case is Gwinnett County, per the Fox 5 Atlanta report.

Per the report, twin sisters Regina DeLoach-Ratliff and Renita DeLoach were looking to get the former's son a look out in front of college coaches. Their son, Lonnie Ratliff IV, played at Mercer University for the 2024 college football season and Walker convinced DeLoach-Ratliff to have her son enter the transfer portal.

With Lonnie entering the portal, he forfeited his full scholarship to Mercer to chase a major collegiate offer, per the report. The family ended up sending Walker nearly $6,000 to go towards flights, hotels for college visits.

When it became time to head off on the college visits, Walker began creating excuses on why he wouldn't be able to go. The report stated the excuses would go on for around three months before the Ratliff sisters, who run a online show called TwinSportsTV, reported Walker to the Gwinnett County Police.

Ratliff IV, who redshirted at Louisiana Tech and went on to star at Holmes Community College before landing at Mercer, played his high school football at Duluth. In high school, Ratliff IV threw for a total of 8,137 yards and totaling 73 touchdowns for the Wildcats, according to the Mercer football website.

Per the report, police investigators said that there is two pending cases against Walker.

This isn't the first time Walker has been accused of stealing thousands of dollars when it's come to selling the dream of getting someone's son a collegiate scholarship for football.

Fake College Recruiter Arrested: Malcolm Walker Scammed Families Out of Thousands, Police Say

The initial case Walker was accused of theft involved Phyllip Becoats and Gainesville senior B.J. Bailey. Becoats paid Walker a sum of $1,023 and the latter promised to take Bailey on a recruiting trip to Colorado to meet with coaches.

Walker, just before the trip, ended up cancelling and provided a bevy of excuses for roughly six months on why he couldn't come through with rescheduling the recruiting visit. Becoats went to the Gainesville Police Department to file charges against Walker regarding the alleged deception.

When the report was filed, several other agencies echoed a similar story had happened to individuals in their jurisdictions. Come to find out, Walker had already scammed numerous others out of monies, totaling well over several thousand dollars.

"He talks the talk, but, unfortunately, that's all he's got going for him. He's just stealing these people's money and leaving them with absolutely nothing," Kevin Holbrook of the Gainesville Police said via a March report regarding Walker's initial arrest.

"We've been notified by multiple law enforcement agencies, multiple individuals who have said, ‘Hey, that's the same guy who did this to us.'"


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-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @highschoolonsi


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Andy Villamarzo
ANDY VILLAMARZO

Andy Villamarzo has been a sports writer in the Tampa Bay (FL) Area since 2007, writing for publications such as Tampa Bay Times, The Tampa Tribune, The Suncoast News, Tampa Beacon, Hernando Sun to name a few. Andy resides out of the Tarpon Springs, FL area and started as a writer with SB Live Sports in the summer of 2022 covering the Tampa Bay Area. He has quickly become one of Florida's foremost authorities on high school sports, appearing frequently on podcasts, radio programs and digital broadcasts as an expert on team rankings, recruiting and much more.