The father of a man who stabbed a local basketball player to death has been found guilty of creating an Instagram account to intimidate and harass witnesses who would testify against his son, prosecutors said.
Steve Darvasy, a 44-year-old salesman, was sentenced to six months in prison on Monday for publicly attacking witnesses on anonymous but easily traceable social media profiles, an act that authorities say was an apparent attempt to protect his son, Tamuz.
Prosecutors said Darvasy claimed he acted in self-defense when his son stabbed and killed Terrell Wigfall in Hell’s Kitchen in August 2020.
As the trial in his son’s case approached, Darvasi created an anonymous social media profile called “Ratzzzz” and began naming witnesses and posting photos of them being questioned by police, according to a statement Monday from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Authorities arrested him in March 2023 and more than a year later he was convicted of three counts of witness tampering and two counts of intimidation.
“Steve Darvasy used social media as a sword, waging a relentless intimidation campaign to punish witnesses who spoke to police and prevent them from speaking out about his son’s crimes,” Bragg said in a statement.
“Honest testimony is the foundation of our criminal justice system, and when witnesses are harassed or intimidated, it undermines our ability to hold those who commit violent acts accountable,” he continued.
“We hope this guilty verdict makes it clear that we will not tolerate any such attempts.”
Darvasy had alleged that Tams, who was 21 at the time, pulled a knife to defend himself when he stabbed Wigfall on the corner of 11th Avenue and West 54th Street just after 10 p.m. in August 2020.
Wigfall, the father of a young daughter, was a junior at Bronx Community College and the leading scorer for the school’s basketball team, the Bronx Broncos.
Authorities rushed the young athlete to Mount Sinai West Hospital, where he died from his injuries a few weeks later.
Tams, now 24, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in April 2023 and was sentenced to five years in prison, according to district attorney’s office and state prison records.
He will be eligible for early release in January.
Bragg said his father began posting videos on an anonymous Instagram page around December 2022 that showed witnesses being questioned by police and participants being identified.
The post, which included pig and rat emojis, was from a police video obtained by the son’s lawyer, the district attorney added.
The posts were not without consequence, authorities said.
Two days after the initial post, two of the witnesses were sitting in their vehicles when someone broke the rear window of one of the witnesses’ vehicles.
Bragg said one of them also received threatening messages calling her a “traitor.”
Darvasi praised the threatening behaviour and continued to run the account until he was caught by police.
