Basketball escort misses eviction hearing with panic attack
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Police have arrested the self-proclaimed ''escort queen'' at the center of a sex scandal involving the University of Louisville's basketball team.
News outlets report Katina Powell was arrested Thursday, moments after the court told her to vacate her Louisville home, for allegedly cashing stolen and forged checks.
An arrest report says Powell is accused of stealing checks totaling $2,900 and trying to cash them last month at a liquor store.
Louisville Metro Police spokesman Dwight Mitchell said Powell will be charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument and theft by deception.
Powell had been ordered to vacate her Louisville home after her daughter was accused of pointing a handgun at a man outside. The incident was deemed to be a violation of the lease. The Louisville Metro Housing Authority filed an eviction notice April 25.
Powell missed a scheduled eviction hearing Thursday morning. A family member said she was hospitalized for a panic attack, but her absence was met with skepticism by Judge Sandra L. McLaughlin, who said Powell has ''a history of purposely avoiding court.''
Powell did appear later Thursday - wearing a Louisville Cardinals football shirt - and was told she had violated her lease and needed to move out in seven days. Then she was arrested on the forged checks charge.
In a book, Powell called herself the ''escort queen.'' She allegedly provided women for sex with Louisville basketball recruits and players between 2010 and 2014, ultimately leading the NCAA to revoke the Cardinals' 2013 men's basketball championship.
