Virginia Beach prosecutors were forced to drop extortion charges against a longtime friend of Detroit Pistons guard Allen Iverson.
Investigators would not go into details about the nature of the extortion, but they say Andre “Arnie” Steele, 38, called Iverson’s lawyer in Virginia Beach and threatened to expose information about Iverson to the media.
Police said, “He contacted the attorney and demanded either money and/or property and said if his demand was not met he was going to do something the victim would not like.”
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Phillip C. Hollowell tried to delay Monday’s hearing until the completion of the NBA season — saying he and Iverson had not had a chance to discuss the case.
But the judge in the case declined a request to delay the hearing until the end of the NBA season.
Iverson spoke fondly of Steele in interviews early in his career, saying Steele was like a father figure to him.