Chris Gatling Arrested as ‘Kingpin’ in Online Credit Card Scam

A first-round draft pick in 1991, Chris Gatling played 11 seasons in the NBA with Golden State, Miami, Dallas, New Jersey, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Denver and Cleveland. The 6-10 power forward was an All-Star in 1997.

Now, he’s been arrested as the “kingpin” in an online credit card scam in Arizona.

From TMZ Sports:

Ex-NBA player Chris Gatling — a former All-Star — was arrested in Scottsdale, AZ yesterday … with cops saying he was the kingpin in a massive illegal credit card and I.D. theft scam.

 

TMZ Sports has learned … one of Gatling’s alleged victims is a woman he met on a dating website who owned a fitness studio — who he allegedly screwed out of $90,000.

 

Long story short … cops say Gatling set up Internet businesses to gather credit card information from people.

 

Once he got the numbers, he would take them to the fitness studio … convinced the lady to run the cards for various dollar amounts (she believed they were legit) … and asked her to front him 90% of the payment in cash.

 

For example … if the woman ran a $100 credit card charge for Gatling, she would give him $90 in cash and keep $10 for herself.

 

But cops say the credit card holders never authorized the fitness studio payments and cancelled their transactions — leaving the fitness studio owner in a $90,000 hole … the amount she had given to Gatling in cash.

 

Officials eventually caught on to the scheme … and arrested Gatling for fraud, aggravated identity theft and forgery.

 

And get this … he was busted while meeting with his probation officer — stemming from a forgery and theft CONVICTION back in 2013 when he attempted to rent out a home he didn’t own.