Former NFL star gets jail time
Agreement resolves charges in 4 states and enables ex-NFL star to avoid longer jail time.
A plea deal resolves sexual assault charges in four states against Darren Sharper.
Former NFL star Darren Sharper is expected to serve nine years in federal prison as part of an expansive plea deal to resolve state and federal charges that he drugged and sexually assaulted women in four states.
On Monday, Sharper began fulfilling the requirements of the agreement by remotely entering guilty pleas to charges in Nevada and Arizona, agreeing to eight- and nine-year prison terms respectively. Sharper later appeared in Los Angeles County Superior Court, where he pleaded no contest to charges of raping and drugging two women.
As part of the deal, Sharper will be sentenced to 20 years in prison for the Los Angeles crimes, but will serve half of the sentence minus time already served — amounting to about nine years in federal prison. All sentences will run concurrently.
Sharper will be extradited to Louisiana next month to resolve federal and state charges in New Orleans before returning to Los Angeles in July for sentencing. The Super Bowl-winning safety has been jailed for more than a year amid investigation of accusations that he attacked women in L.A., Las Vegas, New Orleans and Tempe, Ariz.
The plea agreement ends claims in all jurisdictions, allowing Sharper to avoid the risk of lengthy prison terms. In California, he faced more than three decades in prison. In Louisiana, a possible life sentence loomed.
Wearing a light blue pinstriped suit, Sharper remained composed throughout the hearing as Judge Michael Pastor explained the consequences of accepting the agreement.
Just before accepting his plea, Pastor asked Sharper: “Do you understand that this is a final answer?”
“Yes sir,” Sharper replied quietly.
Sharper’s attorneys, Blair Berk and Leonard Levine, declined to comment. Deputy Dist. Attys. Michele Hanisee and Alison Meyers, who prosecuted the case, also declined to comment.
Prosecutors told the judge that both of Sharper’s victims in Los Angeles understood and were pleased with the agreement. The two women chose to forgo their right to be heard in court. One may seek restitution from Sharper, Meyers told the judge.
Sharper was first arrested in Los Angeles, after several women told police detectives that they had been sexually assaulted after taking drinks from Sharper and blacking out, according to LAPD documents.
In one report, a woman told authorities that she met Sharper through a mutual friend at a Century City hotel in October 2013. That night, she accompanied Sharper to his hotel room, where Sharper poured her a drink.
She awoke the next morning naked and with Sharper on top of her, she told authorities. When she attempted to leave, Sharper “continued having sex with her,” the report said.
Two other women told authorities they met Sharper at a nightclub in January 2014. Both said they accompanied him to an after-party and were on their way to another when Sharper told them that he had to stop by his hotel and invited them to his room.
There, the women told police, the then-NFL TV analyst poured them shots and insisted they drink them, according to the reports. The women told police they blacked out and woke the next morning on a pull-out bed in the living room. One woman said she felt pain in her vagina and the other told authorities that she “couldn’t remember anything.” Less than a month later, Los Angeles County prosecutors filed rape and drug charges against Sharper.
A month after Sharper was arrested and released on bail in Los Angeles, he was again taken into custody after New Orleans police issued a warrant for his arrest. An L.A. judge ordered that he be held without bail.
Sharper was then indicted by grand juries in Louisiana and Arizona on sexual assault and drug charges. Those were followed by the charges in Las Vegas.
In Arizona, he faced three counts of conspiring to distribute anxiety and sleeping medicines known to be used as “date rape” drugs with the intent to commit rape.
In Louisiana, he faced federal drug charges and allegations of aggravated rape.
In Las Vegas, he was accused of drugging women and assaulting them when he knew that they were “mentally or physically incapable of resisting.”
Sharper, a five-time Pro Bowler and a Super Bowl winner with the New Orleans Saints, retired in 2011 and worked as an analyst for the NFL Network until his arrest in Los Angeles.