The Los Angeles man who allegedly made prank phone calls to high profile coaches from the NFL, NBA and college football was arrested on Monday. According to NBC News, 32-year-old Kenneth Edward Tarr was booked on suspicion of felony eavesdropping for recording phone conversations without permission. Tarr is being held on $20,000 bond and charges could be filed as soon as Wednesday.
At least a dozen coaches were reportedly victims of Tarr’s cruel prank, with names like Tony Dungy and Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson among them. About two months ago, USC claimed people were posing as Trojans representatives and speaking to prospective coaches. At the time, we thought USC was lying and had offered the job to Dungy and he turned it down. Tarr’s arrest would seem to confirm that we were wrong.
In October, a person named Kenny Tarr contacted Deadspin and admitted to making dozens of phone calls to high-profile coaches. Tarr sent Deadspin a recording of a conversation he had with Jackson where he posed as a Los Angeles Lakers representative who was supposedly helping with their head coaching search.
“It’s basically a new frontier for me,” Tarr said. “I’m amazed that they’re returning any of these calls.”
Tarr went on to brag about how USC threatened to sue him but “no one ever has the balls to go through with it.” He admitted to contacting Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden, Stanford head coach David Shaw and several others.
“Our investigation is ongoing and includes coaches from across professional sports,” LAPD Lt. Mark Reina said, per NBC News. “We will be analyzing evidence taken during the service of our search warrant to determine if there are additional victims we are not aware of.”
Whether USC or anyone else sues Tarr, it appears that his prank is going to cost him. I hope it’s worth the fame he has received.
