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back to article Ex-basketball star CUFFED on suspicion of stealing Apple gear worth $14k

An erstwhile NBA star was reportedly manacled by police in Arizona on Friday, after being accused of stealing $14,000 worth of gear during separate visits to an Apple store in the US. Ex-basketball player Rex Chapman, 46, who was a member of the Phoenix Suns team, allegedly nicked the goods using the self checkout as a cover …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    is there really

    an Apple product worth stealing?

    4 7 Reply
    1. chivo243 Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Holmes

      Re: is there really

      "an Apple product worth stealing?"

      only for crack.... you don't use the commodity you steal and such. All good criminals know this.

      6 2 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Increasingly I notice that shop lifters are being charged with organized retail theft instead of just plain shop lifting. Organized retail theft was originally conceived to go after large scale retail theft by organized gang not this type of small stuff.

    There was a local case earlier in the year where it was used to charge a lady who was repeatedly stealing one or two pairs of shoes worth $25-$40. Why not just charge the people for common larceny which it is rather than trumping up more serious charges.

    7 0 Reply
    1. BXL
      Reply Icon

      probably because of Plea Bargaining

      Basically, they try to foster a more serious charge in the hope that the defendant will get scare and accept a guilty plea to a lesser offence to save on trial's costs. Sanctioned intimidations in all but name, justice is only for people with money to pay the lawyers.

      7 1 Reply
    2. Gene Cash Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      What part of "repeatedly stealing" do you not understand? Sometimes you have to use the larger size mallets before people understand. I know a couple people like this, that don't understand shoplifting is theft. I'll bet she's been in jail for "plain shoplifting" quite a few times.

      5 0 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Blown Away.

    Rex Chapman wasn't a nobody, not a superstar, but not a nobody. Could he of really blown that much in 14 years? I'm suspecting a rehabilitation program (drug oriented) if this isn't his first offense.

    0 0 Reply
    1. ecofeco Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Blown Away.

      Yep. They do it all the time. Most athletes really have no idea how to invest their millions or to realize when their manager or wives/girlfriends are stealing them blind.

      Lovely ol' world, ain't it?

      5 0 Reply
    2. fishman
      Reply Icon

      Re: Blown Away.

      I don't know about the NBA, but supposedly at least half of the NFL players end up going bankrupt within two years of leaving the league. High flying lifestyle + no marketable skills outside of their sport = 0.0

      2 0 Reply
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Blown Away.

        That statistic is a bit misused, because the average NFL career is only 2-3 years. Player gets drafted, traded a couple times, never cuts it as a starter. After he's been doing that a couple years either he gives up or there isn't anyone interested in him when they'd rather look at the new crop of draftees that have a bigger potential upside.

        Granted at a half million or so a year he'd be OK if he was socking it all away, but it is easy to blow through that if you've always been the best football player around in high school and college and think it'll be the same way in the pros, and truly believe you'll be making a few million a season before long.

        3 0 Reply
        1. Joe Drunk
          Reply Icon

          Re: Blown Away.

          At least some NFL players do invest wisely, Such as Peyton Manning, quarterback for the Denver Broncos. He purchased over 20 Papa John’s Pizza franchises in the state of Colorado just before the recreational use of marijuana was legalized in that state.

          http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/peyton-manning-credits-legal-colorado-pot-booming-papa-john-pizza-business-article-1.1944951

          Genius.

          8 0 Reply
  4. Truth4u

    self checkout in the Apple store?

    Isn't that asking for trouble? If Rolex had a self checkout would anyone pay for a Rolex?

    7 0 Reply
    1. MassiveBob
      Reply Icon

      Re: self checkout in the Apple store?

      The staff was probably high-fiving him while he was exiting the store.

      1 0 Reply
  5. Frank N. Stein

    Of all the things he could steal and pawn, he steals Apple Technology, which can be found? Way to go, genius.

    3 0 Reply
  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    tough manhunt...

    So... we need to find a 6'4" former basketball player who has been stealing Apple products. That sounds like a... (puts on sunglasses)... tall order.

    YEEEAAAAAAA!!!

    0 0 Reply

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