Darren Sharper had a Hall of Fame worthy career in the NFL. As a free safety for the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, and New Orleans Saints, Sharper nabbed 63 interceptions, 7th all time in the history of the league, while making 5 Pro Bowls and being named to the NFL’s All-Decade team for the 2000s. But the former NFL star may also be a serial rapist. Sharper is being investigated in seven rapes and 11 druggings across four states in the past six months.
On Friday, Sharper was formally charged with raping two women in California. On two different occasions, four months apart, the former NFL star allegedly invited two different pairs of women whom he met at a West Hollywood nightclub called Bootsy Bellows back to a hotel room and offered them a shot of alcohol. The alcohol was allegedly drugged and Sharper is then accused of sexually assaulting the women. In at least one of the cases, the drug zolpidem, a generic version of Ambien, was found in one of the cups that Sharper alleged proffered the victims.
The former NFL free safety, who won a Super Bowl with the 2009 New Orleans Saints, was first arrested on January 17 and then released on $200,000 bail. Since his arrest, he has been suspended from his job as a television analyst for the NFL Network. Sharper is also being investigated for sexual assault in Nevada, Louisiana and Arizona. He will be formally arraigned on Thursday in Los Angeles where prosecutors plan arguing to raise his bail to $10 million. If found guilty of the charges against him in Los Angeles, which include two counts of rape, four counts of furnishing a controlled substance and one count of possessing a controlled substance, the former NFL player could face over 30 years in jail.
