Darren Sharper indicted on drug, sex assault charges in Arizona
An Arizona grand jury has indicted Darren Sharper on five sexual assault and drug-related counts, the latest development in multiple sexual assault investigations against the former NFL star that have kept him in a Los Angeles jail.
Sharper, 38, was indicted on two counts of sexual assault and three counts of administering dangerous drugs in connection with attacks that allegedly occurred in Tempe, Ariz., on Nov. 20, 2013, the Tempe Police Department said in a statement.
The department said its detectives presented the allegations to to the grand jury Tuesday. Police said Sharper’s attorney was served with the indictment Wednesday morning.
PHOTOS: Former NFL player Darren Sharper faces sex assault charges
No other information was released, and calls and messages to the Maricopa County district attorney’s office were not immediately returned.
Los Angeles County prosecutors charged Sharper in January with seven rape and drug counts in connection with two alleged attacks in Hollywood. He had been free on $1-million bail but was taken into custody again Feb. 27 after New Orleans police issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with two alleged rapes there.
In all, Sharper is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting at least eight women in Los Angeles, New Orleans, Las Vegas and Tempe. A ninth woman has accused him of sexual battery in Miami Beach, Fla.
Sharper has only been charged in the Los Angeles and Tempe cases. He is scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday for a hearing on the New Orleans warrant.
A Los Angeles judge said at a hearing last week that it would be “grossly unfair” to hold Sharper without bail on the New Orleans matter, and warned prosecutors that he must be charged by prosecutors there or the Louisiana governor must seek his extradition if he is to be kept in custody.
Court documents filed in Los Angeles laid out a disturbing pattern in the allegations in L.A., New Orleans, Las Vegas and Tempe. Victims reported meeting the five-time Pro Bowl player -- usually at a nightclub -- then going back to his hotel room or home.
Sharper allegedly offered the women shots to drink, after which they reported immediately blacking out. Many of the women woke up with little or no memory of what happened after the drinks, but felt they had been sexually assaulted.
Sharper, who played for the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints, was suspended from his job with the NFL Network after he was first arrested by the LAPD in January. He has since been fired.
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