Darren Sharper due in L.A. court in New Orleans rape case
Ex-NFL star Darren Sharper, who has been accused of a string of sexual assaults, is expected in a Los Angeles courtroom on Friday regarding his most recent arrest for two alleged attacks in New Orleans.
The former New Orleans Saints safety was free on $1-million bail in connection with rape and drug charges filed by Los Angeles prosecutors, but has been behind bars at Men’s Central Jail since Feb. 27 after New Orleans police issued a warrant for his arrest.
New Orleans police allege Sharper, 38, and his friend Erik Nunez, 26, assaulted two women at an apartment there. Sharper turned himself in to Los Angeles police detectives at his attorney’s office. Nunez turned himself in to New Orleans authorities last week and was scheduled to appear in court there Friday morning.
Although Sharper appeared in court briefly on Monday, a hearing on the New Orleans matter was delayed until Friday. He is being held without bail.
Two women told New Orleans police that Sharper and Nunez each had sex with them while the women “were under the influence of an unknown substance” on the night of Sept. 23, according to the arrest warrant.
The women said they were “substantially impaired by the substance to a degree that both do not recall the entirety of the sexual intercourse,” the warrant said.
“Through further investigation by the Detective’s it was learned that Nunez and Sharper admitted to other known witnesses that he and Sharper had vaginal and/or oral sex with victim’s #1 and #2 without their knowledge or permission,” the warrant said.
Blair Berk, a Los Angeles attorney representing Sharper, said reports that her client told others the sex was not consensual were “absolutely false.”
Herbert Larson, an attorney for Nunez, questioned the validity of the claims against his client. He said that the original police report made no allegation against Nunez and that the information came from an unknown third party, not the alleged victims.
Sharper is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting at least eight women in all in Los Angeles, New Orleans, Las Vegas and Tempe, Ariz. A ninth woman has accused him of sexual battery in Florida.
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