Darren Sharper Sentenced to 18 Years for Raping Multiple Women Across Four States

Darren Sharper, the former NFL player who terrorized women across four states over a multi-year period, was sentenced to 18 years in prison Thursday morning for his multitude of crimes. The sentencing seemingly puts a legal coda to what was a horrific string of acts by Sharper.

He pleaded guilty or no contest to multiples charges of drugging and raping at least 16 women in Louisiana, California, Nevada, and Arizona. He was sentenced in federal court in New Orleans but was also charged in state courts in all four states.

The sentence was accepted by Judge Jane Triche Milazzo after a previous one was found to be too lenient. Prosecutors had come to an agreement that would put Sharper in prison for just nine years under a multi-jurisdictional deal for all of his many crimes across states, but Milazzo denied it. Sharper also pleaded guilty last year to three counts of conspiring to doling out drugs with an intent to commit rape.

The details of Sharper's crimes are disgusting and heinous. He had been known as a star football player and possible Hall of Famer after a 14-year career. But when he was arrested in January 2014, it lifted the veil on his life as a sexual predator. When he was arrested, nine women had come forward to police to report that they had been drugged or raped, or both. But that number has grown.

Sharper's actions followed a pattern, as reported by this Pro Publica story on him:

"Sharper typically chose victims who were white women in their early 20s, records show. He picked them up in pairs at nightclubs, and took them home to his hotel or residence. Sharper had drinks with them, sometimes lacing drinks he gave the women with drugs that rendered them unconscious."

Sharper's co-defendents have also pleaded guilty already. Brandon Licciardi, a former sergeant in the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office, and Erik Nunez, a waiter and promoter, accepted pleas after they were charged with accusations of helping Sharper drug women with Xanax and Ambien. Licciardi agreed to a 17-year sentence and Nunez received ten years in prison.

[AP]