Former NFL star Darren Sharper has been sentenced to 18 years in jail and $20,000 fine for drugging and raping multiple women . If I were Bill Cosby I’d be shaking in my loafers right now. The former Pro Bowler stood in front of a judge Thursday August 18th in shackles and wearing an orange prison jumpsuit as he learned his fate. He has been in custody since 2014 as he awaited his day in court.
Sharper plead guilty in federal court to three counts of distributing drugs with intent to rape. At least one other defendant, Brandon Licciardi, a former sheriff’s deputy, took part in the scheme to drug and then rape incapacitated women. Judge Milazzo has scheduled sentencing Oct. 13 for Licciardi, the convicted sex offender has worked out a deal for 17 years in prison. 41-year-old former New Orleans Saints safety, Darren Sharper, had previously worked out a plea deal to serve only 9 years in jail. U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo rejected that plea six months ago instead handing down a sentence of twice as amount of time just this week.
“We can never ignore the damage you inflicted on those women and society at large,” the judge told Sharper.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael McMahon told the judge, “I don’t think Mr. Sharper has really wrapped his head around the fact that he is a serial rapist.”
Though Sharper was indicted on charges against a ‘mere’ 9 women, it is suspected that he and his friends drugged and sexually assaulted at least 16. “They didn’t deserve anything being a part of my heinous decisions,” the convicted rapist said sobbing. “I still don’t know why I lived my life right for 38 years, and then I took this path.”
In addition to his federal charges, Sharper also plead guilty or no contest in state courts in Louisiana, Arizona, California and Nevada to charges stemming from allegations of drugging and raping women.
Sharper had a very lucrative career as a ball player. During his 14 year career he played for the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints. He was named All-Pro six times and chosen to play in the Pro Bowl five times. Though he played in two Super Bowls, he was on the winning team only once, when the Saints won in 2010.
When he ended his 14 year career he began working as a NFL network analyst. He was in that position when women started going to police in different cities with stories of drinking with the former ball player and waking up groggy and to find out that they had been sexually assaulted.
One of Sharper’s victims was brave enough to confront the rapist in court. “For the list of people you’ve done this to, Go to hell,” She told him. The unidentified woman, through tear filled eyes address the man who violated her. She admonished him for his “clear stupidity” and arrogance that gave him the gall to continue raping women even after she had reported him to the police. “Within days … you gave me … and the entire judicial system in Louisiana the big middle finger because you thought we weren’t capable of stopping you,” she told her attacker. “You continued to rape other women in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas.” The victim admitted that everyone makes mistakes, “But it wasn’t a mistake. A mistake happens once and you never make it again.” She condemned what she called “a way of life for you and your friends.”
Meanwhile, the tearful victim told Sharper that because of arrogance and “clear stupidity,” he kept drugging and raping women even after he knew she was talking to state and federal investigators.
“Within days … you gave me … and the entire judicial system in Louisiana the big middle finger because you thought we weren’t capable of stopping you,” she said. “You continued to rape other women in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas.”
She said she understands that people make mistakes. “But it wasn’t a mistake. A mistake happens once and you never make it again.” Rather, she said, it was “a way of life for you and your friends.”
Gloria Allred is representing two of the women who accused Darren Sharper of sexual assaulting them in civil suits. “Darren Sharper is now a convicted rapist and sexual predator who used drugs in order to rape his victims. He has inflicted his criminal conduct on many women in a number of states. He deserved serious consequences for the damage that he has forced women to suffer and his celebrity status as a former NFL player did not shield him from those consequences,” said Allred. “I represent victims in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. We are looking forward to his sentencing days in those courts, so that Mr. Sharper and the Court can hear the victim impact statements from my clients and fully understand the impact that Mr. Sharper’s criminal conduct has had on their lives.”
When Sharper is released from prison he will be on three years’ supervised probation that will include “sex treatment conditions” and registration as a sex offender. Sharper is scheduled to serve his sentence in a prison outside of Louisiana.
