RAIN or Shine forward Ronnie Matias has bared plans to hire a lawyer to fight a five-year-old theft case that led to a commotion at the Big Dome on Saturday night when a group of policemen tried to arrest him after the Painters' match against Alaska Milk.
Matias said the case stemmed from a complaint of an Arlene Mendoza, who alleged that the Tondo-raised Painters reliever stole her wallet containing cash worth around P16,000 when he and another player hitched a ride in her car after a meeting with their longtime basketball patron Alex Wang.
The cager has denied the accusation.
"Matagal na po 'yon," said the former University of Manila standout. "Ako po pinagbintangan niyang kumuha. Ilang beses ko na pong sinabi na hindi ako."
According to Matias, the incident took place before he was able to work his way to the defunct Philippine Basketball League (PBL) and eventually the PBA where he is now among Yeng Guiao's players off the bench.
The case came back to haunt him again on Saturday when the complainant showed up at the back entrance of the Araneta Coliseum with a group of policemen who tried to serve Matias an arrest warrant.
Matias had already left the stadium before the arresting team arrived, witnesses said.
The cager said it was not the first time that such an incident happened. He was also previously served an arrest warrant after playing a game in the PBL, Matias added.
“Sa Lunes po kukuha na ako ng abugado, kasi po talagang napapahiya na ako," he said.
Spin.ph tried to contact Mendoza, but efforts failed on Saturday night.
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