Rex Chapman arrested for stealing $14k in Apple products

By now you have probably heard that Rex Chapman was arrested for stealing a bushel of Apple products.

The Associated Press reports:

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Former NBA guard Rex Chapman has been arrested for allegedly shoplifting $14,000 worth of merchandise from an Apple store in Scottsdale and then selling the items at a pawn shop.

Police took Chapman, 46, into custody Friday afternoon after officers stopped his vehicle in northeast Scottsdale.

They say he's being held on suspicion of nine counts of organized retail theft and five counts of trafficking in stolen property.

Police say Chapman made it appear he was using the store's self-checkout but left without paying.

He allegedly stole from the store seven times and sold the items for cash.

- AP, via ESPN.com, 2014

This is pretty ridiculous, especially since it was Apple stuff. Or then again, if it was $14k worth of Apple things it could just be one USB cord or something. I don't know. I heard their stuff is pretty pricy. In light of all the bad press the NFL has been getting this is exactly what they want from the NBA -- to be a distraction. Right? Because it's the NBA that's full of criminals?

That's what the NBA used to be called, but times have changed. But like with all organizations, the NBA also has dumb crooks too. Here's a list of former Utah Jazz players who have dumbed it down for Johnny Law:

• February 19th, 2014: Ronnie Brewer pulled over for drunk driving in Beverly Hills. His Blood alcohol level was .15, which is pretty high.
• June 14th, 2011: DeShawn Stevenson was arrested for public intoxication two days after winning the NBA Championship. It was his third career arrest, we all remember the statutory rape case a year after getting involved in a high school brawl on draft night.
• February 28th, 2010: Al Jefferson was pulled over for poor driving skills, then failed a field sobriety test. Of course, this is all on him, and this doesn't involve his involvement in a domestic abuse case as the victim from his Jazz days.
• February 26th, 2010: Carlos Arroyo was arrested for 'driving too slowly', which made cops label him as a suspicious driver. He was pulled over and arrested for resisting and being non-cooperative with the police. According to the mug shot they kind of roughed him up too. So, yeah, welcome to that minority life, SLC Dunk.
• July 31st, 2008: Josh Howard was arrested for careless and reckless driving, and for being involved in a speed competition. Drugs and alcohol were not involved. So he was just being a jerk and endangering the lives of other people while sober. Classy.
• May 7th, 2008: Richard Jefferson was arrested for assault and/or battery. Vets.
• February 6th, 2007: Jamaal Tinsley was arrested for battery, disorderly conduct, and intimidation. Clearly the intimidation was the threat that he would attempt to defend the pick and roll. (Few things Jamaal does is scarier)
• July 29th, 2002: Keon Clark -- I don't even know where to start. Well, it starts with alcohol and reckless driving. But that's not even the starting point for Keon. He's had a difficult life.
• July 23rd, 2001: Olden Polynice -- Olden was arrested for the third time in less than a year with this one, it was for assault and disturbing the peace. This was the golf course incident where a golfer hit him by accident with the ball (on the arm), and then Olden went Old-school on that dude by punching him in the face and spitting on him. It's the third assault charge of his career, and his fifth arrest -- the previous two in Utah were for impersonating a police officer.
• June 19th, 2001: DeShawn Stevenson, this was the consensual sex with a 14 year old, which is technically still statutory rape.
• June 11th, 2001: Keon Clark, uh, domestic battery, driving with a suspended license, and well, this is essentially Keon just being Keon.
• December 8th, 2000: Olden Polynice road rage incident, and impersonating a police officer #2
• October 28th, 2000: Olden Polynice road rage where he followed someone home, and impersonating a police officer #1
• June 28th, 2000: DeShawn Stevenson draft night fight
• May 20th, 1999: Keon Clark had a marijuana possession charge, but he was with the Denver Nuggets back then . . . so . . . no harm, no foul?
• October 17th, 1996: Olden Polynice had an assault charge with the Sacramento Kings
• January 24th, 1994: Luther Wright got a disorderly conduct charge after he was attacking and smashing vehicles along the side of a road. He was kinda absolved of some of this because this was caused by the wrong meds he was on at the time for his mental problems.
• September 27th, 1993: Bad Boy (member of the Detroit Pistons at this time) Olden Polynice got charged with assault with a deadly weapon. So, like, did the Jazz just not do back ground checks in the 2000s?
• April 16th, 1987: Jay Humphries (you may know him as the back up to John Stockton after that Milwaukee Bucks trade that got rid of Blue Edwards) was charged for cocaine trafficking. Yup.
• May 24th, 1985: John Drew was arrested for writing bad checks at a Salt Lake grocery store. He would later receive a lifetime ban from the NBA for drug offenses.
• June 10th, 1980: Wes Matthews (the dad of Wesley Matthews) was charged for Marijuana possession. Wes never played for the Jazz, but well, I'm adding it here.
• April 18th, 1971: Pete Maravich was charged with drunk driving back in the olden days. Which probably meant he had a blood alcohol level of anti-freeze.

So, our Jazz family has been involved in some stupid stuff over the years, mostly Olden and D-Steve. What Rex did was really dumb too. I never liked Rex, so I can't pass up this opportunity to showcase his stupidity. (For the record, in 27 games against the Jazz he averaged 15.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg, and 2.6 apg while shooting 45 / 32 / 83 against us.) But he's not the only NBA player to get arrested. And even our Jazz guys aren't angels. (N.B. Not all the arrests of Jazzmen happened when they were playing for the Jazz, though. And not all the bad stuff is listed here. Darrell Griffith was held in an airport for a bit, back in the summer one year during his playing days, because he was suspected as a drug mule.)

The NBA has cleaned up a bit. And the Jazz have really gone out of the way to stock their team with choir boys right now. Really, who are the 'bad boys' on this team? Enes Kanter, who as a teen liked girls, and Alec Burks who just doesn't give great interviews?

Still, though, Rex. Man. Apple products? To pawn? Not a good look.