Darren Sharper charged with rape in Nevada, reaches plea deal in all cases

Former NFL safety Darren Sharper has been charged with rape in Las Vegas. He faces two counts of rape for allegedly sexually assaulting two women in January 2014. He will have another hearing in the case on April 3.

Former NFL safety Darren Sharper has reached a plea deal to resolve all of his rape charges after being charged in Las Vegas on Friday, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Sharper will officially enter his plea in Los Angeles on Monday, according to the Times.

The charges in Las Vegas bring the total number cities in which Sharper has been accused of rape to four. Sharper, 39, has also been accused of rape in Los Angeles, Phoenix and New Orleans. He has been in jail in Los Angeles since February 2014 on charges that he drugged and raped a pair of women at a nightclub in 2013.

The Las Vegas charges are for two counts of rape for allegedly sexually assaulting two women in January 2014 when they were impaired. 

In December 2014, Sharper was indicted in New Orleans on two counts of aggravated rape and a count of simple rape. If Sharper were convicted of aggravated rape in Louisiana, he could have faced a life sentence without the possibility of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. 

He is also accused of drugging three women and raping two of them in Phoenix. In April 2014, a police detective testified that Sharper’s DNA was found on the leggings of one of his alleged victims. 

Sharper also faces federal drug charges in Louisiana for allegedly drugging the women. Federal authorities have charged Sharper and a former Louisiana sheriff's deputy, Brandon Licciardi, with illegally distributing sleeping pills “with the intent to commit rape.” 

Sharper's plea agreement would resolve that case, according to the New Orleans Advocate, but the Times did not confirm that detail.

Louisiana authorities have also charged a man named Erik Nunez as Sharper's accomplice in the alleged New Orleans crimes. Nunez is accused of raping two women with Sharper at Sharper's New Orleans condo in 2013. An attorney for Nunez told the Advocate that Sharper's arrangement “absolutely has no bearing on Erik Nunez at all.”

Sharper played 14 seasons in the NFL with the Packers, Vikings and Saints. He was a five-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro selection. He was employed as an analyst for the NFL Network when the rape allegations surfaced and was fired.

- Paul Palladino