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Hollywood man arrested for prank calls to coaches

LOS ANGELES -- A Los Angeles man who placed prank calls about job vacancies for prominent professional coaches was arrested Monday police said.

Kenneth Tarr was arrested at his home in Hollywood and booked on suspicion of felony eavesdropping, police spokeswoman Sally Madera said. The charge involves recording phone conversation without the consent of the people on the calls, Madera said.

Tarr, 32, was being held on $20,000 bail, L.A. County jail records showed.

Madera would give no further details on the calls or identify the victims, saying only that Tarr pretended to be somebody else on the calls.

But LAPD Lt. Mark Reina told NBC News, which first reported the arrest, that the two-month investigation "includes coaches from across professional sports."

San Bernardino County sheriff's detectives and NFL investigators were assisting in the continuing investigation and more victims were being sought based on a search warrant that had been served, Reina said.

Police did not know if Tarr had retained an attorney. A phone message left at a number listed in his name was not immediately returned.

In October, USC athletic director Pat Haden said two people pretending to be school representatives contacted two coaches and tried to discuss the Trojans' football coaching vacancy.

Haden said one of the pranksters repeatedly tried to speak to an unnamed member of the Denver Broncos' coaching staff about the USC opening.

A person impersonating a school representative contacted Tony Dungy, the former Tampa Bay and Indianapolis coach. Afterward, Dungy talked about his apparent contact with USC on a national radio show, saying he turned down the representative. Steve Sarkisian was later hired as coach.

Dungy later tweeted that he had been misled by "someone acting on their own" and apologized to Haden for the mix-up.

Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press

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