Former Phoenix Suns guard and NBA player Rex Chapman has been arrested for stealing items from an Apple Store in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The 46-year-old Chapman allegedly shoplifted Apple Store merchandise amounting to $14,000, which he then sold to a pawn shop for a profit.
He has been charged with nine counts of organized retail theft and five counts of trafficking stolen property. Police officers took him into custody Sept. 19 after they stopped his car in northeast Scottsdale.
According to police reports, Chapman was able to steal the items by acting like he was using the EasyPay system that is based on the iPhone, which gives customers the ability to check out the items that they want to buy in the Apple Store by themselves, without being assisted by an Apple Store employee.
However, Chapman wasn't actually paying for the items that he was taking with the EasyPay system, according to the report. Chapman was only going through the motions as if he was using the system.
After walking out of the Apple Store with the items that he stole, he would unload the devices at a local pawn shop to turn them into cash.
Police started their investigation in the case last month after the employees of the Scottsdale Apple Store, located in the Scottsdale Quarter retail center at Scottsdale Road and Green Parkway, sent in reports of incidents of shoplifting that involved the same suspect over a period of a few months.
The suspect was identified as Chapman by several employees, owing to his previous celebrity status as a basketball player in the NBA.
Chapman was a former star of the University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball team and the first-ever draft pick of the former Charlotte Hornets in 1988. He played for 12 years in the NBA, with tenures with the Washington Bullets, the Miami Heat and the Phoenix Suns, where he found the most success.
Chapman played in 224 games for the Suns, averaging 12.4 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
Chapman made $22 million over the course of his NBA player career. After his retirement in 2000, Chapman has received roles as a TV analyst and other basketball-related positions with the Phoenix Suns, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Denver Nuggets.
The incident also raises questions about the security of Apple's EasyPay system, which can be abused in such a way that Chapman did to steal items from the Scottsdale Apple Store.
