Suspended Washington Wizards sharpshooter Gilbert Arenas has been charged with carrying a pistol without a license outside his home.
The charge, a felony that holds a five-year prison sentence, stems from an incident last month inside the Wizards’ locker room.
Arenas’s lawyers and federal prosecutors had been negotiating a plea deal during the day and it was not immediately clear whether the filing of charges was a part of the deal.
Court officials said they had been told to prepare to have Arenas in DC Superior Court tomorrow.
The US Attorney’s office alleged that on Dec. 21, Arenas “did carry, openly and concealed on or about his person, in a place other than his dwelling place, place of business or on other land possessed by him, a pistol, without license issued pursuant to law.”
The Washington Post report comes as police executed a search warrant this morning at the home of Arenas’ teammate Javaris Crittenton, as investigators continue to search for another gun that may have been secretly wheeled out of the team’s locker room in a laundry basket.
Javaris and Arenas drew guns on each other during a Christmas Eve standoff, law enforcement officials said.
Arlington County cops executed the warrant after witnesses told them they saw Crittenton “throw his gun into a laundry basket and someone from the organization wheeled it out,” authorities said.
Cops are scanning surveillance videos posted around the locker room looking to see if they can spot the person who was pushing the cart.
It is not known whether police uncovered the gun once they searched the DC-area home.
Arenas, who was suspended indefinitely without pay by the NBA last week, mocked the size of his teammate’s pistol after an angry Crittendon whipped out and loaded a gun in the locker room.
Crittenton, fuming at Arenas over a card game played two days earlier, pulled his firearm and chambered one round during a tense standoff in their Verizon Center dressing room on Dec. 21, The Washington Post reported last week, in the latest chapter of a story broken by The Post.
Crittenton flipped out when the NBA veteran ridiculed him in front of teammates.
Arenas, who had been storing his own firearms in the Wizards dressing room, put four guns on a chair in front of Crittenton’s locker and wisecracked, “If you want to shoot me, I’d just thought I’d make it easy for you.”
That’s when Crittenton, 22, grabbed one of Arenas’ guns, threw it across the room, pulled his own weapon and loaded one bullet.
Arenas, 28, laughed off his teammate’s armed response and wisecracked, “Look at that little shiny gun.”
The standoff eventually defused with Crittenton breaking into song, while still holding his gun, according to the paper.
Crittenton’s agent Mark Bartelstein has said his client did nothing wrong but declined to discuss specifics.