Update August 25, 2022 — The Las Cruces Sun-News has added this correction to its report:
A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Edmond Pryor was fired from the university, not that he is simply no longer associated with the school. The Sun-News regrets this error.
The former City Colleges of Chicago basketball coach who allegedly forged employment verification records so people on electronic monitoring (EM) could move around Chicago for “jobs” they didn’t really have has been fired from a new coaching job he landed last month.
Edmond Pryor was terminated by New Mexico State University, the school confirmed today in a report by the Las Cruces Sun-News. The school did not elaborate on his termination, which came just a few weeks after it announced that he was joining their Division I men’s basketball team as a defensive analyst.
On Sunday, prosecutors filed charges against the first of possibly six people who allegedly benefited from forgeries provided by Pryor. Authorities are still tracking down the others, according to a Cook County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson.
Authorities learned about the forgery mill in 2019 after City Colleges fired Pryor, 42, following an internal investigation that concluded that he used his work computer to create fake receipts for reimbursement and false university transcripts, among other things.
While examining Pryor’s computer in that matter, investigators found other suspicious documents, including false employment records and phone and fax numbers that investigators linked to Pryor and “several individuals” on the Cook County Sheriff’s Office electronic monitoring (EM) program, prosecutors said. That sparked an entirely new investigation that culminated with Pryor’s arrest earlier this month.
Pryor allegedly faxed false employment records from his computer and two phone numbers linked to Pryor received nearly 100 calls from the number the sheriff’s office uses to verify the employment of EM participants. During the alleged fraud, he also got calls from court officials and prosecutors, officials said.
Pryor maintained his innocence when asked about the charges by a Chicago Tribune reporter.
Investigators also found forged documents for vehicle financing that were used to buy six vehicles, bogus auto insurance cards, and fake community service completion forms, according to the sheriff’s office.
During Pryor’s bail hearing this month, prosecutor Jack Costello said some of the fake auto insurance cards were used by people to defend themselves against related charges in Cook and DuPage counties. The allegedly faked insurance information resulted in some charges being dismissed, he said.
Pryor was compensated for his services, but prosecutors do not know how much he was paid, according to Costello. After being arrested this month, Pryor allegedly “made lengthy admissions.”