Police last week discovered Rex Chapman, the former Kentucky Wildcats star and NBA player, had stolen over $14,000 worth of goods from an Apple Store in Scottsdale, Arizona, and offloaded the lifted items at a nearby pawn shop.
According to CBS Sports (via 9to5Mac), Chapman was arrested Friday on nine counts of organized retail theft and five counts of trafficking stolen property.
According to police, Chapman, 46, repeatedly visited the Apple Store in the Scottsdale Quarter retail center and made it seem like he was paying for items with his iPhone’s Apple Store Application, which contains a self-checkout system called “Easy Pay” so customers can buy Apple products without an employee. Chapman, however, would then leave the store without actually paying for the items before visiting a local pawn shop to exchange the goods for cash.
Police said these occurrences happened over “a few months.”
Chapman was apparently identified as a suspect by Apple employees because of his previous status as an NBA player, particularly because he used to play for the Phoenix Suns toward the end of his career. He also played for the Washington Bullets (now Wizards) and for the Miami Heat, and in 1988, the former All-SEC player at Kentucky was the first player drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in the franchise’s history.
Chapman reportedly made $22 million over the course of his NBA career. He retired in 2000, later serving as vice president of player development for the Denver Nuggets and as a broadcast analyst for CBS and Turner in 2013.
This is the second notable scam to hit Apple Stores this year: In late July, a 24-year-old man tricked Apple Store employees in 16 states into accepting fake authorization codes to purchase $309,768 worth of Apple goods. His system was breathtakingly simple.
We’ve reached out to Apple to learn more about its systems to protect the integrity of its Easy Pay system, and we’ll update this story if we learn more.
