Ex-NFL star Sharper sentenced to 20 years in prison in drug, rape
cases
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[November 30, 2016]
(Reuters) - Former National
Football League star Darren Sharper was sentenced on Tuesday to 20
years in prison after admitting to drugging and raping two women in
California, concluding a string of sexual abuse cases that spanned
several states.
Sharper, 41, pleaded no contest to charges in California of rape by
use of drugs and furnishing a controlled substance, the Los Angeles
County District Attorney's Office said in a statement. District
Attorney spokeswoman Jane Robinson said this was the last sentencing
he faced.
The sentence will run concurrently with a previous 18-year sentence
handed down in a federal court in Louisiana on similar charges,
according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the eastern district of
Louisiana.
An attorney for Sharper could not be immediately reached for comment
on Tuesday.
In the California case, Sharper admitted to meeting two women at a
West Hollywood nightclub in October 2013 and later inviting them to
his hotel room. He gave both of the women a drink, which made them
both pass out, prosecutors said.
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One woman woke up naked hours later with Sharper sexually assaulting
her and the second woman woke up and stopped the attack, prosecutors
said.
Months later, in January 2014, Sharper met two separate women and
followed the same procedure, prosecutors said. The two women woke up
hours later and one woman believed she had been sexually assaulted.
Both left the hotel and sought medical treatment, prosecutors said.
Sharper, a five-time Pro Bowl safety who retired from the NFL in
2011 after helping lead the New Orleans Saints to a Super Bowl
championship, had pleaded guilty in federal court in Louisiana in
May 2015 to distributing controlled substances to three unsuspecting
women and then sexually assaulting them while they were
incapacitated.
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![](../images/113016PICS/sports51.jpg)
Former professional football player Darren Sharper appears for his
arraignment at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in
Los Angeles, California February 20, 2014. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
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He has also pleaded guilty or no contest to rape or attempted rape
charges involving several women in Arizona and Nevada.
Sharper's 14-year career in the NFL included stints with the Green
Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings. He was working as an NFL
Network analyst when women began to allege they had blacked out
while drinking with him and woke up to find they had been raped.
His 20 year sentence will be served in federal prison at a location
to be determined by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, according to the
U.S. Attorney's Office in eastern Louisiana. The sentences will run
concurrently as part of a negotiated plea deal, the office said.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by David
Gregorio)
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