Nowitzki's lawyer doubts woman's pregnancy claim

DALLAS (AP) " A lawyer for Dirk Nowitzki says he doubts a woman's claim that she is pregnant with the Dallas Mavericks star's baby.

Christa Ann Taylor, 37, told The Dallas Morning News in an interview from jail this week 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.

Robert Hart, Nowitzki's Dallas-based lawyer, 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."

Don Duesler, Taylor's court-appointed lawyer, declined to comment on the pregnancy issue. Taylor, who authorities say has at least eight aliases, remained in jail in Beaumont on Friday.

Taylor said in a telephone interview with the Morning News that she and Nowitzki were to be married in July. She said she learned of her pregnancy after getting tested when admitted to the Dallas jail, but Hart said "we have been told" that she hadn't received a pregnancy test.

Privacy laws prevent officials from releasing medical records. Dallas County jail officials say pregnancy tests are not automatically given to prisoners but are sometimes administered if the prisoner's statements or pre-existing conditions warrant them.

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 says, raises 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.

"I've known Dirk for seven years " and, no, I didn't tell him everything about my past because I was afraid," she said. "But I mean, now I'm pregnant and alone and broke because he is my only source of income."

She told the newspaper that Nowitzki changed his phone numbers after her arrest.

Nowitzki has declined to answer questions about his relationship with Taylor, but has said he's "going through a tough time in my personal life." The Mavericks said Nowitzki left Dallas for Germany on Thursday afternoon.

Hart did not immediately return a message left by The Associated Press on Friday.

The Morning News said it didn't publish Taylor's interview until after a phone conversation with one of her attorneys, St. Louis-based Amy Gervich. The newspaper said that when Taylor said she was carrying Nowitzki's child, Gervich told the newspaper: "Oh, OK. That's OK." Gervich refused comment to The Associated Press on Friday.

Taylor was indicted in 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.

Taylor, who was born in St. Louis, pleaded guilty in 1999 to two counts of forgery and two counts of felony stealing after being accused of passing bad checks through a bank. She had multiple five-year prison sentences suspended, Missouri prosecutors have said.