PORTLAND, Ore. -- Portland Trail Blazers forward Ruben Patterson was arrested Monday night on a felony domestic assault charge, the latest in a string of members of his team running into trouble with the law.

	Patterson

Tualatin police spokesman Sgt. Doug Nafziger said the five-year veteran was taken into custody after his wife, Shannon, called 911 and said he had assaulted her at their Tualatin home.

Nafzinger said that when police got to the home at about 5:20 p.m, ''they found that Mrs. Patterson had minor assaults.''

The couple's children, ages 2 and 10, were in the house when the alleged assault took place, police said.

The presence of the children is enough to boost the reported incident from a misdemeanor to a felony under Oregon law, Nafziger said.

Patterson was booked in the Washington County Jail -- but later released after teammate Derek Anderson posted $1,000 bail, Nafziger said.

''I'm just hearing of this myself,'' Blazers Executive Director of Communications Mike Hanson said. ''It would be premature for myself or anyone in the organization to comment at this time.''

Shannon Patterson released a statement early Tuesday through her husband's agent, Dan Fegan.

"I made a statement that was accurate, but in the heat of the moment was incomplete,'' Shannon Patterson said. "Ruben and I had a disagreement this evening. I want the public to know that Ruben did not assault me. I love my husband, and this is a private family matter. I'm embarrassed that it became public and this is something we are working out privately. I respectfully request that we be allowed to do so.''

Patterson is scheduled to be arraigned in court Dec. 6, the same day fellow Blazers Damon Stoudamire and Rasheed Wallace are scheduled to appear in court on drug charges.

The Blazers are home that night against Miami.

Nafziger said Patterson could face one to five years in prison and a $100,000 fine if convicted.

Stoudamire and Wallace were charged last week with marijuana possession after a Washington state trooper stopped them in a speeding vehicle on their way back to Portland after a game in Seattle.

Earlier this year, Stoudamire was charged with a felony after police found a large bag of marijuana in his home while investigating a burglar alarm. A judge declared the search illegal, but prosecutors are appealing.

Patterson's arrest was first reported on KGW-TV in Portland.

It's not Patterson's first run-in with the law. In 2001, Patterson entered a modified guilty plea in Washington state to attempted rape. Patterson allegedly forced the then-24-year-old nanny of his children to perform a sex act on him the previous year.

Under the agreement, Patterson did not admit guilt, but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict him.

He was sentenced to a year in jail, but the judge suspended all but 15 days of the sentence, which Patterson served in his Cleveland home. The NBA suspended him for the first five games of last season, his first with the Blazers after signing a six-year, $33.8 million free agent contract following two years with the SuperSonics.

''I'm not no bad guy,'' Patterson said at the news conference in August of 2001 introducing him as a Blazer. ''I'm not no rapist. I'm a great guy.''

Patterson also was convicted of misdemeanor assault in February 2001 for attacking a man who had scratched his car outside a Cleveland nightclub in June 2000.

''Ruben's a good guy. He really is,'' Shannon Patterson said at that same news conference. ''He just made some bad choices and made mistakes. Everyone does.''

''I hope that the fans and the community will open up their hearts to us, because we are good people. Honestly,'' Shannon Patterson said at the time.

Patterson is averaging 7.8 points and 4.5 rebounds this season in 13 games. He has started four games.

Portland plays host to the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night.