Former NFL player Darren Sharper has been charged with drugging and raping two women in the Los Angeles area, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced Friday.
Sharper, 38, is charged with two counts of rape by use of drugs, four counts of furnishing a controlled substance and one count of possession of a controlled substance. The substances involved were Zolpidem, also known as Ambien, and morphine. If convicted, prosecutors said he could be sentenced to more than 30 years in state prison.
According to prosecutors, one of the attacks happened Oct. 30, 2013, and the other on Jan. 14, 2014. In the October case, prosecutors say Sharper met two women at a West Hollywood nightclub and invited them to another party. But on the way to the party, Sharper asked to stop at his hotel suite. Both women came with him to the suite, where he gave each a shot of alcohol and the women "blacked out," according to a motion filed asking to increase Sharper's bail.
One woman woke up hours later, naked, with Sharper sexually assaulting her, prosecutors said. The second woman woke up and went into Sharper's room "interrupting his actions," the bail motion stated.
Sharper was at the same nightclub Jan. 14, when he met two different women and invited them to an afterparty, prosecutors said. They left that party about 4 a.m., and Sharper invited them to another party. On the way, they stopped by his hotel, where he is accused of inviting the women up to his suite and offering them a shot. Within minutes of drinking the shot, the women "blacked out," the bail motion stated.
When they woke up in the morning, one woman "immediately felt as though she had been sexually assaulted," the motion stated. Both women left the hotel room and sought medical treatment.
Sharper previously was arrested in January and charged with rape. He was booked into a Los Angeles jail and later released on $200,000 bail. In light of the new charges and ongoing investigations involving Sharper in other states, prosecutors have asked that his bail be raised to $10 million. A judge will hear the bail request at Sharper's next court appearance, scheduled for Feb. 20 at 1:30 p.m. PT.
Sharper played 14 NFL seasons at safety with the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints. He was selected to five Pro Bowls and had been an on-camera analyst for NFL Network since 2012. He remains suspended by the network.
