Ex-NBA star’s sister gets probation for threatening witness

NEW YORK (AP) — The sister of former NBA player Sebastian Telfair was sentenced Friday to two years of probation and 100 hours of community service for threatening a woman who testified against him at his New York City gun possession trial.

Octavia Telfair was charged in May 2019 with transmitting an interstate threat after prosecutors say she made threatening phone calls to a witness in her brother’s case, allegedly telling the woman she was “gonna die” or going to have to live with a “rearranged face.”

Octavia Telfair pleaded guilty in March.

She was not ordered to pay any fines or restitution as part of her sentence. A message seeking comment was left with her lawyer.

Sebastian Telfair was a once highly touted point guard from Coney Island whose professional basketball career fell short of expectations. He was convicted in 2019 of violating New York City’s strict gun laws by having a loaded firearm in his pickup truck. He was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.

Sebastian Telfair was a first-round draft pick out of high school 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 and a friend were arrested in 2007 after a traffic stop during which police found a loaded handgun in the vehicle. He pleaded guilty to criminal possession of a weapon in that case and was sentenced to three years’ probation.

The Associated Press