ALBANY — It was, in the end, an arrest about nothing.

In the latest twist in the Zelig-like story of Julia Salazar — born-again democratic socialist, would-be immigrant and actual New York State Senate candidate in Brooklyn — news broke on Thursday of her 2011 arrest involving a dispute with the ex-wife of the former New York Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez.

The charge? Attempted identity theft.

The legal skirmish between the two women also included an assertion that Ms. Salazar, 27, had an affair with Mr. Hernandez, an allegation that both denied but which nonetheless propelled the already peculiar political story into the realm of media mania, with the candidate being pursued down a street outside City Hall on Thursday by question-barking reporters and a television camera crew.

[Scrutiny of Julia Salazar’s history revealed inconsistencies that threaten to undermine her candidacy.]

The newest revelation, first reported by DailyMail.com, about Ms. Salazar dates to 2010 when Kai Hernandez, then Mr. Hernandez’s estranged wife, filed a police report alleging that Ms. Salazar, then a 19-year-old attending Columbia University, had attempted “to gain access to my bank accounts by fraudulently pretending to be me” in a phone call to Ms. Hernandez’s bank.