Defendant Arrested Following Traffic Stop in Brooklyn
Edited by: JV Staff
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez on Monday announced that former National Basketball Association player Sebastian Telfair has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for gun possession. Telfair, who was born in Brooklyn and attended Abraham Lincoln High School was convicted of criminal possession of a weapon in April. Police recovered a loaded gun from his vehicle during a traffic stop in Prospect Heights in July 2017. Telfair is the cousin of NBA player Stephon Marbury.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant exercised his right to a jury trial and was found guilty of possessing an illegal firearm. The mandatory prison sentence he received today is required by law and he has now been held accountable for the unlawful conduct.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Sebastian Telfair, 33, of Orlando, Florida. He was sentenced today to three and a half years in prison by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice John Hecht. The defendant was convicted of one count of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in April following a jury trial.
The District Attorney said that, according to trial testimony, on June 11, 2017, at approximately 2:50 a.m., officers in an unmarked police car saw a Ford F-150 parked on a center median at Atlantic Avenue and Classon Avenue in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. The pickup truck then made a U-turn off of the median, in front of the police and continued to drive down Atlantic Avenue without turning on its headlights. When officers approached to perform a traffic stop, the smell of marijuana was present, as was a lit marijuana cigarette in the car’s console, according to testimony.
Telfair was observed in the driver’s seat, and a second man was seated in the front passenger seat. Following the arrest, police conducted a search of the truck and recovered a loaded .45 caliber gun in the console.
The case was additionally investigated by Detective Investigators assigned to the Kings County District Attorney’s Office.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Alfred DeIngeniis, Chief of the District Attorney’s Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau and Senior Assistant District Attorney James Slattery, also of VCE, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Patricia McNeill, Chief of the District Attorney’s Investigations Division.
Telfair and a friend, Al Eden Fuentes were arrested early on April 20, 2007 and charged with felony possession of a weapon, after a traffic stop. The traffic stop was prompted when Telfair was spotted driving his 2006 Range Rover 77 mph on the Bronx River Parkway, a 45 mph zone. Telfair was driving under a suspended Florida license. When the police searched Telfair’s vehicle, a loaded .45 caliber handgun was found under the passenger’s seat. Both Telfair and Eden claimed to not have any knowledge of the handgun. Police had yet to determine the registration status of the handgun.
In September 2008, Telfair pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a weapon and received three years’ probation. In October 2008, the NBA handed down a three-game suspension following the guilty plea.
