Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Dirk, Dirk, Dirk

Tests show jailed woman was pregnant

DALLAS (AP)—A woman who said she was carrying Dallas Mavericks’ star Dirk Nowitzki’s (notes) child was pregnant after she was booked into the Dallas County jail on May 6, according to a newspaper report.
The Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday that medical records it obtained from the Dallas County jail and Parkland Hospital showed 37-year-old Crista Ann Taylor was administered the pregnancy test and the result was positive. The tests do not determine paternity.
Taylor signed a release form Friday during a jailhouse interview in Beaumont giving the newspaper access to the records.
Taylor has said that Nowitzki was her fiance and that she learned she was pregnant after she was arrested at his house on a probation violation and theft of services warrants.
A call seeking comment by The Associated Press to Nowitzki’s attorney was not immediately returned Tuesday evening. Dallas Mavericks’ spokeswoman Sarah Melton said she had no comment.
Robert Hart, Nowitzki’s lawyer, had said in a statement released to ESPN.com on Thursday, “If in the remote instance there is any validity to this woman’s claim of pregnancy, Dirk will do whatever can be done to ensure the well being of the child.”
After Taylor’s arrest May 6, a woman identifying herself as Taylor’s best friend was telling media outlets that Taylor was pregnant with Nowitzki’s baby. That, Hart’s statement said, raised questions about the claim Taylor learned she was pregnant at the jail.
“In fact, we found it strange that a friend of hers was at Dirk’s house right after the arrest telling anyone who would listen that she was pregnant,” Hart’s statement said. “As with all things coming from this woman’s mouth, we are highly skeptical.”
Taylor told the newspaper that she’d lived with Nowitzki for the last two years.
The News reported Taylor did not know it planned to bring medical release forms to the jailhouse interview. But shortly after entering the glass-divided visitation booth, Taylor saw that the reporter brought a folder.
“Are those release forms?” she asked. “May I please sign them right now?”
The forms were passed to a jailer and Taylor filled them out and signed the forms. The jailer signed one of the forms as a witness.
“I can’t wait until you get those results,” she said. “I know they won’t lie. Can you hurry up and get them?”
She was indicted in September 2006 on a theft of services charge for failing to pay a Beaumont dentist for dental work ranging from $1,500 to $20,000 she received in 2004. She has $50,000 bond set on the theft of services charge, but was also arrested for a probation violation out of St. Charles County, Mo., and is being held without bond on that charge.
If convicted of the theft of services charge, a state jail felony, Taylor could be sentenced to prison for up to two years.
Her arraignment is now scheduled for June 8.