PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Federal authorities have charged a previously convicted Philadelphia real estate investor with retaliating against a witness, stemming from a case involving a city employee.
Prosecutors say 39-year-old Behzad Sabagh sent threatening text messages to a witness, who agreed to cooperate with investigators. The indictment alleges Sabagh sent messages saying he would sexually assault the man and his wife and hurt the couple's children.
In April 2019, Sabagh pleaded guilty to fraud charges for bribing a sheriff's office employee to get early lists of housing sales.
Sabagh was sent to prison for a month. Following his sentence, the feds say he started sending the threatening messages to the witness.
He is now facing nine counts of retaliating against a witness and one count of tampering with a witness. If convicted, he could face the rest of his life in prison with a $2.5 million fine.
