Convicted sex offender poses as MLB prospect to steal from VA family, feds say
A convicted sex offender accused of defrauding multiple ex-girlfriends then began posing as a Major League Baseball prospect to steal from a Virginia family he was spending “significant” time with, according to federal prosecutors.
Now, Janike Dunbar Holt, 29, of Roanoke, has pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from his scheme, according to a May 27 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia.
His defense attorney, David Joseph Damico, didn’t immediately return McClatchy News’ request for comment May 28.
The MLB scam
In early 2023, Holt moved from North Carolina to Roanoke, where he scammed the mother of his brother’s children and her mother, whom she lived with, according to prosecutors.
In Virginia, Holt never registered his sex offender status with the state, prosecutors said. His conviction was related to sex acts with a 15-year-old in North Carolina in 2018, according to prosecutors.
Though Holt was living with a girlfriend in Roanoke, he regularly stayed at the family’s home, according to prosecutors.
Holt lied to the family, along with his brother and girlfriend, that he was wrongly convicted of sex crimes involving the teen in North Carolina, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
He also lied by telling them he was recruited to play for an MLB team — and “that they would all be moving as a result of his purported” upcoming career, prosecutors said.
To dupe the family and his brother, he texted them from burner phones, pretending to be officials with MLB and Minor League Baseball, according to prosecutors.
He’s accused of using the officials’ actual names.
In court documents, a federal investigator wrote that the texts from the burner phones “indicated that Holt would purportedly be signing a Major League Baseball contract” with a certain team in March 2023.
The team wasn’t identified in court filings.
Using the burner phones, Holt also told the family that they “would be moving to Houston, Texas, with Holt to serve as his managers” — and that the MLB team would provide the family “homes, transportation to Texas, and a $5.5 million check upon Holt signing his (MLB) contract,” the investigator wrote.
To prepare for the move, Holt pressured his brother’s childrens’ mother, and the children’s grandmother, to sell their cars, according to prosecutors.
The women gave at least $100 from the sales to Holt, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
He also “pressured (his girlfriend) into selling her car, but she refused,” prosecutors said.
When Holt secretly tried to sell her car, she stopped him, according to court documents.
On March 14, 2023, Holt was arrested on a warrant issued from North Carolina, prosecutors said.
At the time, he was accused of repeatedly lying to a deputy marshal, including by claiming he didn’t live in Roanoke, according to prosecutors.
Holt was arrested on federal charges in the Western District of North Carolina on March 25, court records show.
On May 27, at the Roanoke federal courthouse, he pleaded guilty to failing to register as a convicted sex offender and making false statements, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Other women scammed
Before he moved to Roanoke, prosecutors said he defrauded women he previously dated through a variety of scams throughout 2022.
While dating a woman with a minor child in March 2022, Holt told other women he was the child’s father to solicit money from them, according to prosecutors.
Holt claimed the money was “to support (the child), to visit (the child), or to help obtain custody of (the child),” prosecutors said.
He’s accused of keeping the money women gave him as a result.
Months later, in October 2022, Holt was dating another woman whom he is accused of stealing $5,000 from, according to prosecutors.
After convincing her to give him $65, claiming the money was for diapers for the child who wasn’t his and gas money, prosecutors said she let him access her bank accounts.
Her bank ultimately helped recover the $5,000 Holt took from her, according to prosecutors.
Afterward, Holt is accused of scamming two additional women he dated, before he moved in with his other girlfriend in Roanoke, prosecutors said.
According to court documents, Holt has used four different aliases: “Nike,” “Janike Tagovailoa,” “Keanu Tagovailoa” and “Trey Tagovailoa.”
The U.S. Marshals Service is investigating the case against him, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
This story was originally published May 28, 2025 at 12:33 PM with the headline "Convicted sex offender poses as MLB prospect to steal from VA family, feds say."
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