Voice of Lennay Kekua was Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, report says

As details of the Manti Te’o Internet hoax trickle out, a very important question has remained unanswered: Who was Te’o speaking with for hours a night?

According to the New York Daily News, the Notre Dame linebacker was speaking to a man.

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, who has been identified as the perpetrator of the hoax, reportedly disguised his voice to sound feminine and would talk to Te’o over the phone for hours at a time pretending to be Lennay Kekua, Tuiasosopo’s attorney, Milton Grimes, told the newspaper.

Grimes said that Te’o “thought it was a female he was talking with. It was Ronaiah as Lennay.”

Grimes said that Tuiasosopo wasn’t trying to hurt Te’o.

“This wasn’t a prank to make fun,” Grimes said, according to the newspaper. “It was establishing a communication with someone. ... It was a person with a troubled existence trying to reach out and communicate and have a relationship.”

Grimes declined to say what type of relationship his client desired with Te’o.

“I wouldn’t describe his issues at this time,” he said.

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