Rashid Byrd (L) has been given 90 years to life for horrific sexual acts to numerous victims (Image: Photo by Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for GBK Productions)
Rashid Byrd, a former NBA player, has been sentenced to 90 years in prison after he was arrested for several sexual assaults from 2015 to 2020 in Los Angeles County

Former basketball player Rashid Byrd has been sentenced to 90 years to life in prison for several sexual assaults from 2015 to 2020 in Los Angeles County. Byrd – born Rashid Hardwick – was arrested in 2020 by the Los Angeles Police Department and has been in prison ever since then.

He also has been held on $4,150,000 bail. The LAPD first launched an investigation on Byrd in 2019, after a victim accused the former basketball player of sexually assaulting her.

“During their investigation, detectives learned [that] in 2020, Byrd was convicted of sexual assault involving a different victim,” the LAPD said in a press release. “Detectives also discovered that Byrd had been arrested for sexually assaulting a young woman in Washington State in 2005.”

The LAPD also described Byrd’s tactics and how he would approach women before assaulting them. Byrd often would use his status as a former basketball player and movie star to entice women to join him before the meetings devolved into horrific sexual acts.

“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, per the U.S. Sun. “The Los Angeles Police Department is grateful for the brace women who came forward to tell their stories.

“While this investigation has gone on for years, we are thankful that Byrd is no longer on the streets.”

Click here to follow the Mirror US on Google News to stay up to date with all the latest news, sport and entertainment stories.

Rashid Byrd has been sentenced to 90 years to life for sexually assaulting multiple women ( Image: Photo by Jerod Harris/WireImage)

Rashid Byrd spent a very brief time in the NBA and the G-League ( Image: Photo by Tiffany Rose/WireImage)
Prior to his arrest, Byrd spent a handful of seasons in the NBA during the 2000s. Though he was an early entry candidate for the 2003 NBA Draft, Byrd went undrafted and signed with the Harlem Globetrotters in 2004 to pursue his basketball career.

In 2005, Byrd signed with the Seattle Supersonics – now known as the Oklahoma City Thunder – and thus began his basketball journey. He ultimately played for the Supersonics, Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings and Shanxi Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association. and the Los Angeles Defenders, now called the South Bay Lakers, of the NBA G-League.