Netflix 'Last Chance U' Coach Facing 8 Felonies For Impersonating Lawyer to Intimidate Newspapers

Jason Brown is facing eight felonies for allegedly stealing a lawyer's identity to intimidate local newspapers.

The former Independence Community College football coach, whose tenure was featured on season three of Netflix's "Last Chance U", pretended to be an attorney from Johnnie Cochran's law firm in an attempt to stop negative press about him, investigators say.

Two papers, the Montgomery County Chronicle and the Independence Daily Reporter, received a number of cease-and-desist letters purportedly from the Cochran Law Firm in California, regarding articles written about Brown. One of the articles detailed how Brown had texted one of his German players "I am your new Hitler", which eventually led to his resignation in February.

The Chronicle found the emails suspicious and turned them over to authorities, who in turn discovered that the sender was using a Yahoo! email address similar to the law firm's. They were traced back to IP addresses on devices belonging to Brown, prosecutors claim.

Brown now faces four felony counts of blackmail and four felony counts of identity theft, as well as two misdemeanor counts of criminal false communication.

"Whenever citizens suspect a crime has been undertaken against them, they have the right and responsibility to alert law enforcement to the situation," Chronicle publisher Andy Taylor told the Parsons Sun. "That is exactly what the Montgomery County Chronicle did."

"After a series of threatening emails from a person claiming to (be) an attorney representing Jason Brown were sent to the Chronicle, we turned over the communications to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department for further investigation. Now that the investigation has concluded and the charges have been filed, we believe dishonest practices will be exposed... and truth and integrity will prevail."

The first two seasons of the docuseries "Last Chance U" followed the players and coaches of East Mississippi Community College, before switching to Independence Community College in Kansas for season 3.

Season 4, set for release on Netflix on July 19, will once again follow Independence, and will reportedly cover Brown's resignation.