Ana Montana, partner of Charlotte Hornets star LaMelo Ball, was arrested in Mecklenburg County on two felony counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud and two misdemeanor possession counts. Booking records allege she obtained alprazolam from Walgreens using a stolen DEA registration; she was held on a $20,000 bond.
Montana — whose legal name is Analicia Chaves, 36 — was arrested on Monday, September 28, according to booking records first reported by TMZ. She faces two felony counts of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud or forgery, plus two misdemeanor counts of simple possession of a Schedule IV controlled substance. She was held on a $20,000 bond in connection with the felony charges.
According to the arrest warrant, authorities claim that on February 21, Montana obtained alprazolam — the generic form of Xanax — from a Walgreens pharmacy by filling prescriptions written using a doctor's allegedly stolen DEA registration and medical provider ID. The warrant was issued on September 22, six days before her arrest.
Montana's attorney, Matthew Pruden, pushed back on how the allegations have been read. "To clarify, the charges allege that a doctor who used a fraudulent DEA registration and NPI number prescribed Alprazolam for Ms. Chaves, and that she used the prescription written by the doctor to obtain the prescribed Alprazolam at a pharmacy," he said in a statement. He added that the possession charges appear to allege she possessed the alprazolam after obtaining it from the pharmacy via that prescription. The defense maintains she did not forge paperwork or fabricate prescriptions herself, but simply picked up what she assumed was a valid order.
LaMelo Ball is not named or implicated in any part of the investigation, according to police records and court documents. Montana is expected back in court on October 20. The arrest came the same day Ball's new team, the Minnesota Timberwolves — he was traded from Charlotte in June — held their media day. Ball has not publicly commented on the case.
Montana and Ball have been linked since 2021 and share a son, LaOne, born in January 2026 and publicly revealed on Mother's Day in May. Montana, an Instagram model, is also the founder of a nonprofit, I Am Fertility, which supports women navigating fertility challenges. The charges remain allegations; Montana has not been convicted, and the case now moves toward its October court date.
The case has drawn outsized attention because it lands at a pivotal moment for both Montana and Ball. Montana had been open about her fertility journey in building her public profile and nonprofit, and the couple's quiet arrival as parents — LaOne's birth in January, revealed publicly on Mother's Day in May — had been one of the feel-good NBA stories of the year. Ball's trade to Minnesota in June already made this a season of transition; with training camp underway, the arrest adds an unwelcome off-court storyline for a franchise hoping its new star guard stays focused on basketball. Neither Ball nor the Timberwolves had issued a statement as of the reporting, and the October 20 court date will be the first formal step in determining how the charges play out.