Former NBA player Rashid Byrd has been sentenced to 90 years to life in prison, following a nearly four-year investigation into a series of sexual assaults.
Byrd, who played briefly for the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA Development League and appeared in the 2008 comedy Semi Pro, has been incarcerated since September 2020, when a woman came forward to say he sexually assaulted her in 2019. Detectives later discovered he had previously been arrested for two other assaults—one in 2005 and one in 2010.
His sentence, handed down Friday, was for a “series of violent sexual assaults” in Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties between 2015 and 2020, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
“He started as a charmer, playing up his status as an athlete and pseudo-celebrity, but that quickly faded into rapes and violence,” Detective Dara Brown, the lead investigator on the case, said in a statement, adding that the LAPD is “grateful for all the brave women who came forward to tell their stories” and “thankful that Byrd is no longer on the streets.”
