Former NBA Point Guard Sebastian Telfair Sentenced 3.5 Years for Gun Possession

Former NBA Point Guard Sebastian Telfair Sentenced 3.5 Years for Gun Possession

By Michael Shapiro
August 12, 2019
Former NBA point guard Sebastian Telfair was sentenced 3.5 years in prison for gun possession on Monday, Brooklyn district attorney Eric Gonzalez announced in a statement on Monday.

Telfair was convicted of criminal possession of a weapon in April after police recovered a gun from his car during a traffic stop arrest in July 2017.

“This defendant exercised his right to a jury trial and was found guilty of possessing an illegal firearm," Gonzalez wrote. "The mandatory prison sentence he received today is required by law and he has now been held accountable for the unlawful conduct."

Telfair played for eight teams in his 10-year NBA career, averaging 7.4 points per game. He left the NBA after a short stint with the Thunder in 2014-15.

The Brooklyn native was drafted by the Blazers in the first round of the 2004 NBA draft. He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in March 2004 as a point guard at Lincoln High School.



https://www.si.com/nba/2019/08/12/sebastian-telfair-sentenced-gun-possession-nba-point-guard

 

Ex-NBA player Sebastian Telfair gets over 3 years on weapons charges

By Elizabeth Rosner and Tina Moore

He’s quite the bawler.

Former NBA player Sebastian Telfair landed three and a half years behind bars Monday on weapons raps — after suffering an emotional meltdown, crying and yelling, in Brooklyn court.

“Please don’t take me from society right now,’’ said the onetime Abraham Lincoln HS star from Brooklyn in a rambling statement.

“I am 34. I can go play in China for six years and take care of my family. I’m waiting for my daughter right now to get her period. Real mental illness because I wasn’t around … She hasn’t even gotten her period yet.”

Shouting and crying as he spoke, Telfair added, “Sebastian Telfair is going to jail for a … victimless crime.

“Put a gun in his hand and fight for us n—a … I go to the gun store. I got an American Express.’’

Minutes earlier, Telfair walked into the courtroom dressed all in black saying, “God on the throne, that’s what my mother says, God still sits on the throne.’’

The former Portland Trailblazers and Minnesota Timberwolves player — who once graced the cover of Sports Illustrated in 2004 under the headline “Watch Me Now’’ — had faced up to 15 years in the slammer.

Telfair was stopped in his Ford F-150 pickup truck in Brooklyn in 2017 for driving without his lights on and illegally parking on the median of Atlantic Avenue. Cops then found three loaded handguns, a submachine gun, ammunition, extended magazines and a ballistic vest during a search of his vehicle.

Telfair told The Post on Monday before his sentencing that the weapons were his and legally licensed, although in Florida. He was not licensed to have them in New York.

He claimed he didn’t know they were in the car because he was going through a divorce at the time and had movers put some of his stuff in his truck and drive it up for him from Florida to the city, before he got it back again.

The larger weapon was out of sight in an ottoman in the back of the truck, he said, while the handguns were locked in consoles.

The only people watching him now will be prison guards....

Telfair said the search of his vehicle was illegal because the officers didn’t have a warrant.

The cops said they smelled pot coming from the car and that gave them cause to search. They turned up a mar1juana cigarette in addition to the weapons. Telfair said the pot wasn’t his. He was driving with a friend at the time.

The judge refused to side with Telfair on the warrant issue.

Still, his claim was investigated internally by the NYPD, a high-ranking police source told The Post on Monday.

The department’s Internal Affairs Bureau was looking into whether the cops were lying about having probable cause to search the truck, the source said.

But Telfair’s assistant told The Post on Monday that IAB eventually sided with the officers.

https://nypost.com/2019/06/18/new-twist-in-sebastian-telfair-case-helps-him-dodge-sentencing/
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Sebastian Telfair goes from Sports Illustrated cover star to jailbird

By Emily Saul and Tamar Lapin

The only people watching him now will be prison guards.

Former NBA player Sebastian Telfair, who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 2004 under the headline “Watch Me Now,” completed a total fall from grace on Wednesday when he was convicted of gun possession charges.

The basketball prodigy out of Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn had the world on a string when he was selected 13th overall in the 2004 NBA draft by the Portland Trailblazers, getting the chance to skip college and go pro as a teenager.

But the career of the cousin of NBA star Stephon Marbury never took off — he spent 10 middling seasons bouncing between eight NBA teams and never averaged more than 10 points a game.

Things started to turn upside down off the court back in 2006 when a gold necklace valued at $50,000 was allegedly ripped from his neck outside Sean “P Diddy” Combs’ restaurant in Chelsea 30 minutes before rapper Fabulous was shot in the leg. Cops at the time were investigating if the two incidents were related.

A year later, cops found a .45-caliber handgun in his car during a traffic stop on the Bronx River Parkway after pulling him over for going 77 mph in a 45 mph zone and driving with a suspended Florida license.

Then a Minnesota Timberwolves player, Telfair claimed he had no clue where the firearm came from. He ultimately pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a weapon and copped three years’ probation in 2008.






Back on the court, Telfair tried to restart his tanking NBA career by signing with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, a Chinese professional basketball team for the 2013-2014 CBA season. The then-28-year-old worked his way back to the NBA for the 2014 season, his final in the league, during which he averaged 8.4 points a game for the Oklahoma City Thunder.


But Telfair, who was the subject of the 2005 sports documentary “Through the Fire,” was arrested again in 2017 after cops found three loaded pistols, a gas-operated submachine gun, ammunition, extended magazine and a ballistic vest in his Ford F-150 pickup truck. He had been driving through Brooklyn without his headlights on, and then parked illegally on an Atlantic Avenue median, drawing the cops’ attention.

A single tear could be seen dripping down his cheek in Brooklyn court Wednesday, when he was convicted.

Telfair is facing up to 15 years in jail. His sentencing is scheduled for June 18.

https://nypost.com/2019/04/25/sebastian-telfair-goes-from-sports-illustrated-cover-star-to-jailbird/