BOSTON -- State police have launched an investigation into what prompted troopers to arrest an ex-stripper who was romantically involved with baseball player Alex Rodriguez.

The woman, Candice Houlihan, 32, of Reading, Mass., is an unemployed hairdresser whose entanglement with the Yankees slugger grabbed the media spotlight last week, following reports that Rodriguez’s wife had filed for a divorce.

A warrant for Houlihan’s arrest was issued in 2004 after she failed to appear in court for charges of owning an uninsured and unregistered motor vehicle. According to the Massachusetts RMV, Houlihan also had several other minor infractions on her record dating back to 1997, including three surchargeable accidents, two speeding citations and parking and excise tickets.

Shortly after the news of her two-night stand with A-Rod became public, Houlihan was apprehended by state troopers waiting at her home in unmarked police vehicles, according to the Boston Herald. She served one night in jail at the Danvers police barracks before her father paid the $100 bond fee to release her.

State police are now investigating why troopers Orlando Tirella and Dan Clemens chose to execute the warrant last week. As of 2007, there were 378,000 outstanding warrants in the state, the Herald reported.

“The state police are looking into the circumstances of how the arresting troopers learned of the subject’s outstanding warrant and the facts pertaining to the arrest,” said state police spokesman David Procopio said.

Houlihan believes she was targeted because of the high-profile media exposure she has received in recent days. The charges against her were dismissed on Friday and she agreed to pay $400 in court costs.