Dallas Mavericks cautioned Dirk Nowitzki about relationship with (mulatto) woman
06:27 PM CDT on Thursday, May 7, 2009
By BRAD TOWNSEND / The Dallas Morning News
btownsend@dallasnews.com
Multiple Dallas Mavericks sources said Thursday that members of the organization cautioned Dirk Nowitzki about his relationship with Cristal Taylor and that he had suspicions about her long prior to her arrest on Wednesday.
While many Mavericks fans probably regard the timing as awful, with Dallas trailing Denver 2-0 in the second round of the playoffs, the team sources characterized the news and timing as "good," saying Taylor was a divisive influence between Nowitzki, his teammates and family members.
Following practice Thursday afternoon, Nowitzki declined to comment about his relationship to Taylor, or her Wednesday morning arrest at his home in the 10700 block of Strait Lane.
"It's pretty obvious that I'm going through a tough time in my personal life right now," said Nowitzki, 30. "Like I always have, I want to kind of keep my private life private.
"I really am not at the stage where I can talk about it yet and feel comfortable talking about it. I'm more than happy to answer basketball questions, but I think at this point, I just can't talk about it."
Photos of Cristal Taylor (clockwise from top left): Arrest mug from St. Louis, Mo.; Taken by a previous boyfriend and given to Beaumont police in 2004 or 2005; Arrest mug from Dallas County Jail on May 6, 2009.; Arrest mug of Crystal Taylor from Harris County, Texas
Nowitzki, with dark bags under his eyes, said he is "trying to focus on basketball as much as I can," but emphasized that he is looking forward to Saturday's Game 3 at American Airlines Center. "I'm a warrior. I'll be ready to play."
There is little doubt that Nowitzki and Taylor, 37, had a close relationship. Two local TV stations, KTVT and WFAA, cited unidentified sources in reporting Thursday that Taylor is engaged to Nowitzki and pregnant with his child.
"I'm not commenting on that," Nowitzki said, when asked about the reports.
WFAA obtained a Facebook page video that shows Nowitzki and Taylor hugging in a kitchen, purportedly in his Preston Hollow home. When the Mavericks hosted Phoenix in an April 5 regular season game, Taylor sat next to Nowitzki's father Joerge, who was visiting from Germany.
Taylor was arrested Wednesday morning on warrants accusing her of a probation violation and a theft charge, Dallas police said.
Although she was booked into the Dallas County jail as Cristal Taylor, an indictment from Jefferson County identifies her as Crystal Ann Taylor and lists additional aliases: Christian Julie Wellington, Christian B. Travino, Crystal Nobles, Christy Nobles, Kristi Briana Westerhauf, Cristal Taylor Westerhaus, and Christa A. Westerhays.
Earlier, KTVT-TV quoted anonymous sources as saying that Nowitzki had hired a private investigator to check into the woman's background - and that the investigator learned she was using an alias.
WFAA reported that its source said Taylor has been living with Nowitzki for about a year and that most in their circle of friends are aware of their engagement.
The Jefferson County indictment for theft of services alleges that she received dental services worth between $1,500 and $20,000, "intending to avoid payment for the service." The probation violation charge is from Missouri, where Taylor was serving a probation sentence for two counts of forgery and one count of felony stealing, authorities said.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont....2712b2a3.htmlhttp://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont....2712b2a3.htmlEdited by: C Darwin
