Darren “non-consensual sex” Sharper has been indicted in Tempe, Arizona for two counts of sexual assault and three counts of administering dangerous drugs. The former NFL Network commentator is accused of raping two women in the state last November; this is in addition to the charges he’s facing in New Orleans, where he is also accused of drugging and sexually assaulting two more women. This dude is like an un-welcome wagon traversing America.
Sharper was formally charged in Arizona on Tuesday, reports USA Today, but he was busy in a Los Angeles jail for those other New Orleans, Louisiana charges, for which he’s been incarcerated since February 27.
The New Orleans counts of sexual assault aren’t to be confused with the charges he’s also facing in California, where he pleaded not guilty on February 20 to felony charges and was released on $1 million bail, with a ridiculous stipulation: The condition required that he didn’t go to nightclubs or spend time alone with any women he didn’t know before Oct. 30, the date of the first alleged incident in Los Angeles.
Oh, and Sharper has also been accused of sexual assault in Nevada and Florida. For those of you keeping score at home, that’s five states.
Sharper’s lawyers have been pressing L.A. judge Renee Korn to release him on bail, despite his incarceration due to the New Orleans no-bail warrant for his arrest. In turn, Korn gave Louisiana authorities until Thursday to issue a specific arrest warrant for Sharper from the New Orleans charges. However this week’s fresh Arizona charges may change all of that. Especially since each of Sharper’s alleged sexual assault scenarios sound remarkably similar as detailed in the various police reports: he parties with the alleged victims, offers them a spiked drink (Ambien seems to be his go-to), the women pass out and wake up hours later in various stages of undress, feeling as if they’ve been raped.
Until now Sharper’s lawyers have asserted that there wasn’t enough evidence in these cases and the sex between Sharper and the alleged victims was consensual. However a cup used as evidence in the Arizona case revealed traces of the drug zolpidem or Ambien, to which Sharper’s lawyer say the former footballer has a prescription — so what’s the big deal?
Just a couple of questions: Who takes Ambien at parties? Is there a napping rave scene I don’t know about?
According to the police report from Tempe, Sharper went out to a nightclub with two women, returned with them to their apartment and insisted that they drink cocktails he made. One of the women passed out almost immediately after drinking it, and the other started feeling ill, the report said.
When the woman who felt sick went to the bathroom, she said she became alarmed when she observed Sharper naked, on top of the other woman on the couch, the records show. After being seen, Sharper then knocked on the woman’s door in an apparent attempt to explain, saying that he and girl on the couch “have something going on.” A third woman in the apartment woke up naked from the waist down and had no memory of how her clothing was removed.
When one of the women confronted Sharper about what had happened, Sharper allegedly replied, “I don’t really remember. I guess I could have done that. I’m really sorry.”
Really, dude? Now the countdown begins until the other charges come down in Florida and/or Nevada, then Sharper will officially be fighting sexual assault charges in five different states. Meanwhile his “non-consensual sex” partner in crime, Erik Nunez, who was also charged and arrested in New Orleans for aggravated rape stemming from the aforementioned incident, was released on bail this week, according to the Times-Picayune. Nunez is slated to return to court on March 21.
Image via Getty.
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