Former NBA player Sebastian Telfair has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for illegal gun possession, Brooklyn’s district attorney announced Monday.
Telfair, 34, was convicted in April of one count of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, which stemmed from an arrest in January 2017. Police found firearms, a semi-automatic rifle, ammunition, a ballistic vest and marijuana inside a vehicle Telfair was driving during a traffic stop in Brooklyn.
“This defendant exercised his right to a jury trial and was found guilty of possessing an illegal firearm,” district attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. “The mandatory prison sentence he received today is required by law and he has now been held accountable for the unlawful conduct.”
Telfair was a first-round draft pick in 2004. He started with the Portland Trail Blazers and spent time with the Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves and other teams before ending his career in China in 2014.
Telfair was also arrested in 2007 after a traffic stop when police found a loaded handgun in the vehicle. He pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a weapon and was sentenced to three years of probation in that case.