Wizards' Arenas begins serving sentence

PRO BASKETBALL

Wizards' Arenas begins serving his sentence

Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas began serving his sentence Friday night when he arrived at the Montgomery County Detention Center at 7:40 p.m., jail officials said.

Arenas pleaded guilty to a gun charge in the District and a judge sentenced him to two years probation with the first 30 days at a halfway house. But the first two days of that must be spent at the county jail.

Arenas, 28, is serving his time in Montgomery County because the county has a contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to take certain offenders. In Arenas's case, he was put on probation by a judge in the federally supported court system of Washington, D.C. The prisons bureau pays the tab.

Federal officials chose a Montgomery halfway house near the White Flint Mall because of its reputation as a halfway house that is run with the discipline of a prison. The facility screens visitors and can keep Arenas safe from celebrity seekers and other convicts.

"Our thoughts are always with him," Wizards Coach Flip Saunders said of Arenas. "I'm glad it's going to be done and he'll be able to move on."

-- Dan Morse and Michael Lee

Guard Manu Ginóbili, 32, signed a three-year, $39 million extension with the San Antonio Spurs.

PRO FOOTBALL

The district attorney in Georgia handling the case involving Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger plans to announce Monday whether he will pursue a criminal charge against Roethlisberger over an allegation of sexual assault, according to multiple reports.

The district attorney, Frederic D. Bright, scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m. Monday.