Ex-UGA player Cole involved in jail fight

By CHIP TOWERS

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Tony Cole just can't seem to stay out of the news — or trouble.

The former Georgia basketball player, whose cheating allegations led to the ouster of coach Jim Harrick in 2003, was recently involved in a jailhouse brawl over the weekend in Chicago.

Cole and another inmate got into a "tussle" May 2 that involved the telephones inside the Cook County Jail, according to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times. Cole is incarcerated until trial for violating the terms of his home confinement as a result a domestic dispute case.

Cole is also at the center of a hiring scandal in Cook County, where he held a $61,000-a-year job with the highway department. Cole, 29, was fired for lying on his job application about previous arrests. A county administrator was also dismissed for allegedly bailing out Cole twice with credit cards at a cost of $4,000.

Cole and 42-year-old Jesse Riggins both claimed to jail officials the other was on the phone when they were attacked without provocation. Riggins suffered a dislocated thumb. Cole had scrapes on a knee and marks on one hand.

Cole wants to press charges, according to the newspaper.

"This is how you run this jail," he said in a sheriff's office report of the incident. "I am going to call my people and I am going to call the press."