Darren Sharper to serve 9 years after plea deals in sex assault cases

Former NFL star Darren Sharper is expected to serve nine years in federal prison after making deals in sexual assault related charges in Los Angeles, Arizona and Nevada.

Sharper appeared in a Los Angeles court and pleaded no contest to sex assault charges stemming from cases in L.A. As part of the deal, Sharper will be sentenced to 20 years in prison, but will serve 50% of his sentence minus time already served, which is nine years. All sentences will run concurrently.

His attorneys and prosecutors declined to comment about the case. The victims declined to appear in court Monday.

Sharper’s sentencing was continued to July 15, so his other case pending in Louisiana can be resolved.

Sharper last week reached a “global resolution” to end all claims in all jurisdictions, attorney Blair Berk said in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday.

Sharper was charged in California, Louisiana, Nevada and Arizona.

In Nevada, Sharper agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of attempted sexual assault for attacking two women. He agreed to serve up to eight years in prison, which will run concurrently with all other sentences.

In Arizona, Sharper appeared via telephone and pleaded guilty to one count of attempted sexual assault and one count of sexual assault.

He was sentenced to nine years in federal prison, which will also run concurrently with other sentences, according to the Maricopa County district attorney. He was also ordered to serve a life term of probation.

Sharper is also expected to enter a guilty plea in Louisiana within the next 30 days to resolve his pending state and federal charges in New Orleans, Orleans Parish Dist. Atty. Leon Cannizzaro said in a statement.

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.

Sharper was charged last week with two counts of sexual assault in Las Vegas stemming from a Jan. 16, 2014, attack on two women, according to Clark County Justice Court records.

The Las Vegas charges accused Sharper of drugging the women and assaulting them when he knew that they were “mentally or physically incapable of resisting.”

In Los Angeles, women told Los Angeles police detectives that Sharper insisted they take drinks he made before they blacked out and were sexually assaulted, according to LAPD documents.

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.

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 faces federal drug charges and allegations of aggravated rape, which carries a potential sentence of life in prison.

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.

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