Former NBA star Rex Everett Chapman has been arrested by Arizona police on suspicion of stealing products worth $14,000 from an Apple retail shop in Scottsdale Road and Greenway.
His arrest was confirmed by the Scottsdale Police department in a press release on Friday.
The 44-years old former Phoenix Suns guard and Nuggets administrator is alleged to have stolen different items from the same tech store on several occasions over the past few months.
On Friday afternoon, after establishing a probable cause, he was apprehended and taken into custody by police officers on nine counts of organized retail theft and five counts of trafficking stolen properties. All counts are felonies.
A Scottsdale police spokesman Sgt. Mark Clark told reporters that Chapman had been under their radar for some time now after the Apple shop mangers made several reports of theft in August. He also said employees at the store were easily able to identify the offender because of "his pervious celebrity status as an NBA basketball player."
Police have revealed that employees at the store said Chapman usually picked up items from the shelves under the pretense of paying for them with an iPhone payment app via the store's self-check out system. The accused would then proceed to exit the outlet without really paying for the items.
Reports indicate that Chapman took the stolen items to a local pawn shop where he sold them for cash.
Officials say Chapman, who retired from the NBA after 12 seasons with 4 teams from 1999 to 2000, is due to be transferred to a jail in Phoenix.
The former NBA player also has other legal woes. According to Scottsdale police reports, a court had issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to appear in court on charges of several traffic-related offences.
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