Former NBA All-Star and first-round pick Chris Gatling has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for running a fraud scheme.

Gatling, 50, pleaded guilty in September to two counts of fraudulent schemes and artifices, one count of which had been reduced from a forgery charge as part of a plea agreement.

The Arizona Attorney General's Office said a Scottsdale police investigation found Gatling owned and operated a telemarketing business that targeted vulnerable seniors and sold them fictitious websites with promises of making thousands of dollars.

Gatling collected over $155,000 from 12 people between October 2014 and February 2015, according to the Attorney General's Office.

"It disgusts me that this guy, who lived a lavish lifestyle, ripped people off and continued to buy clothes for himself and go to restaurants and strip clubs," Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said.

It wasn't the first time the former NBA player ran afoul of the law in Arizona. Gatling was arrested in 2013 after police said he squatted in a Paradise Valley home for a year and listed it for rent online. He was sentenced to four years of probation in December 2013.

In the most recent case, officials said Gatling met with a Scottsdale fitness-studio owner on a dating website in early 2015. He told her he operated internet businesses that created websites and fixed credit.

Police said Gatling persuaded her to charge credit-card numbers for him through her business. But once the charges were deemed unauthorized, police said, the woman lost $90,000 and was forced to close her fitness studio.

Detectives said their investigation led them to find that Gatling ran multiple online businesses that gathered credit-card numbers and ran them through other businesses that the cardholders never authorized.

In addition to the 2.5-year prison sentence, the judge ordered Gatling to pay $167,000 in restitution to the victims. As of the sentencing Tuesday, he had already paid $142,000.

"We asked for a prison sentence to send a message that, 'If you're a fraud or a crook, as the attorney general, I will go after you, NBA player or not,' " Brnovich said.

He said investment opportunities that seem too good to be true almost always are.

"Do your due diligence," he said. "Do your homework."

Gatling played 11 seasons in the NBA and was a one-time All-Star during his season with the Dallas Mavericks. He made approximately $30 million in his career, according to basketball-reference.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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