Police have arrested a man in Los Angeles who they say pranked at least a dozen coaches from the NFL, NBA and college football into believing he was offering them jobs with pro or college teams.
Kenneth Edward Tarr, 32, was arrested Monday morning at his Hollywood home and charged with felony eavesdropping, for allegedly recording the prank calls, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Under California law, it is illegal to record someone without their consent.
He had not been arraigned as of Monday evening, according to the LAPD. Tarr was being held on $20,000 bail, LA County jail records showed. It was not clear if Tarr had an attorney.
"Such eavesdropping is a felony and the investigation is ongoing. We want to see if there are additional victims," LAPD Officer Sally Madera told ABC News station KABC-TV.
Law enforcement sources could not immediately say just how many franchises and schools coaching staffs were affected.
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy was one victim of the hoax, an official tells ABC News.
Earlier this year, the University of Southern California athletic director Pat Haden said that two people pretending to be representatives of his school contacted two coaches and attempted to discuss the Trojans' coaching vacancy with them.
Dungy talked about his apparent contact with USC on a national radio show, saying he turned down the representative.
Dungy later tweeted that he had been misled by "someone acting on their own." He apologized to Haden for the mix-up.
The NFL has not commented as of Monday evening.
Tarr said in a recent interview with ABC News' Nick Watt that he is more talented than Andy Kaufman or any comedians working today, and that he deserves to be paid more than Antawn Jamison or any pro athlete. But he said Hollywood isn't reading his work, and that hoaxing and pranking is his way of getting his art out there in the world.
On Nov. 3, Tarr told Watt in a text message that he conducted many sports hoaxes in the weeks prior.
Later that evening Watt received another text from Tarr who said he pranked the Los Angeles Clippers by telling them he was a famous retired basketball player named Shareef Abdur Rahim, who is currently the director of player personnel for the Sacramento Kings.
Tarr claimed the Clippers shared information with him during the hoax.
Tarr told The Village Voice in an article that was published this past June that he has a history of pranking. Tarr told the publication that his pranking ways landed him on "The Ricki Lake Show," in which he pretended that his greatest wish in life was to sleep with his best friend's girlfriend.
Tarr said he scammed Fox's "Judge Alex" show by pretending to be a plumber, who got locked in a mortuary overnight, and then got stiffed on his bill. Tarr won this fake case, earning $1,137, according to The Village Voice.
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