Former NBA player Orlando Woolridge arrested for theft

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MANSFIELD, La., March 1 (UPI) -- A former professional basketball player was arrested in Louisiana for allegedly stealing aluminum water lines from a roadside, police said.

Orlando V. Woolridge, 52, was arrested Friday and charged with theft over $1,500 for allegedly stealing sections of lines used to transfer water to natural gas drilling sites, the Shreveport (La.) Times reported.

Woolridge was booked into the DeSoto Detention Center in Mansfield.

The material, estimated at being worth more than $2,000, was sold for scrap, said police Sgt. Chato Atkins.

Woolridge played collegiate basketball at Notre Dame and started his professional career in 1981 with the Chicago Bulls.

He was suspended by the NBA in the 1987-88 season for substance abuse and retired in 1994.