Ex-NFL star Darren Sharper faces new allegation in Miami, report says

Ex-NFL star Darren Sharper pleaded not guilty Thursday to drugging and raping two women in Los Angeles as prosecutors said the allegations against him now include a case being investigated in Miami.

Sharper, 38, was charged last week with seven rape and drug counts involving four women he allegedly met at a West Hollywood nightclub. Court documents filed Friday revealed additional allegations in Las Vegas, New Orleans and Tempe, Ariz., that are all still under investigation.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Renee Korn raised Sharper’s bail from $200,000 to $1 million Thursday, which he posted before leaving the courtroom. She also ordered Sharper to stay in Los Angeles, avoid nightclubs and bars that serve alcohol and not be alone with any woman he met after Oct. 30 -- the date of the first alleged incident in L.A.

After the former safety entered his plea in court Thursday afternoon, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Stacy Okum-Wiese told Korn that prosecutors had learned of the additional allegation in Miami. Miami police could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Miami Herald reported that police there opened a sexual battery investigation Jan. 19, two days after Sharper was arrested in Los Angeles. A woman told police that she learned of Sharper’s arrest and wanted to “clear her conscience,” the newspaper reported.

According to a redacted police report, the woman said she and two friends met Sharper and his cousin at a club and then went back to his condo, the newspaper reported. The woman said she was “extremely intoxicated” and did not remember much of what happened after that.

She told authorities she woke up the next morning without pants and alleged Sharper was on top of her, the newspaper reported. Police declined to release further details beyond the report.

The Miami newspaper said the investigation was first reported by WPLG-TV Channel 10.

Court documents filed in Los Angeles last week laid out a series of allegations against Sharper regarding the time between Sept. 22 and Jan. 15. Women reported meeting Sharper -- usually at a nightclub -- and then going to his hotel room or another location. The women, who were often in pairs, said Sharper then gave them shots of alcohol that caused them to black out.

Some of the women said they awoke hours later to find Sharper assaulting them or a friend. Many said they could remember nothing between drinking the shots and waking up. Authorities said Sharper’s DNA was found on one of the women during a medical examination. In another incident, the sleep-aid drug zolpidem -- an Ambien generic -- was found in a cup he had given to a woman, officials said.

Charges have been filed only in connection with the L.A. allegations, though officials in the other jurisdictions said their cases remained open. The L.A. Police Department’s investigation is also ongoing, Cmdr. Andrew Smith said.

Prosecutors had originally asked for Sharper’s bail to be set at $10 million, citing the ongoing investigations in other jurisdictions.

“The defendant is a danger to women in our community,” Okum-Wiese said in court Thursday. “He’s out there preying on women.”

Okum-Wiese said she had listened to recorded interviews with each of the alleged victims and said their stories matched.

“It’s like listening to the same person over and over again,” she said.

Sharper’s attorneys noted that Sharper had never been arrested before and had not been charged in the other investigations. They called the $10-million bail request excessive and said their client had agreed to follow orders set forth by the court upon his release.

Korn agreed that the $10-million bail was excessive but called the allegations against Sharper “quite serious,” saying there may be “far more victims in this case.”

Sharper is due back in court April 15.

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kate.mather@latimes.com