An arrest warrant has been issued for a former Utah man who allegedly took at least $200,000 from victims after touting himself as a wealthy debt collector.
Joshua T. Pryor, of Mesa, Ariz., faces 12 felony charges of communications fraud and one count of conducting a pattern of unlawful activity. Bail has been set at $100,000.
Pryor, according to the affidavit, said he purchased credit card debt at as low as 10% of its value then made collections of the debt well over the price he paid for it. He offered to sell debts to his victims, which supposedly would allow them to make large returns. He also offered to get several victims’ personal credit card debt erased for only 10% of what they owed, court records show.
Documents obtained by the Salt Lake City Tribune allege he called himself a retired millionaire to golf partners and others, and sold his victims preview copies of debt from a company that buys and resells bad debt. But Pryor never delivered the complete portfolios with information needed to collect.
In one case, two brothers paid Pryor $40,000 for two portfolios for which they were unable to collect any debts, according to court documents. Pryor later told them they had violated federal collection laws and that he could settle their case for $20,000. They paid him that amount and then several thousand more to “scrub” their portfolios so they could be resold. In total, they lost $64,000.
"Pryor claimed to get a discounted rate for his purchases due to the large volume of debt purchased,” Rex R. Ashdown Jr., an investigator for the Attorney General’s Office, said in an affidavit. "Pryor offered assistance for contacts to break into the business by purchasing a portfolio of bad debt through his broker, in his name, on behalf of the contacts thereby enabling them to take advantage of his reduced rate."
Pryor apparently worked for a collection agency, making collection calls in 2005 and 2006, but never owned his own company.
Other victims allege they found that Pryor had sold them many of the same bad debts as he had peddled to others. When they called the company that supposedly sold the debt to Pryor, they were told he had purchased only preview copies but not portfolios that contained legal title to the debt and all the information needed to collect.
Pryor also was unable to reduce personal credit card debt for individuals but such accounts cannot be purchased separately from other debts, the affidavit says.
