Before last year, Darren Sharper was seen as a sterling example of all the good an NFL player could be. A gifted leader in the defensive backfields of three franchises he was beloved in New Orleans as a community leader and key member of the Saints team that won Super Bowl XLIV. He was bright, engaging and at the start of what seemed a promising broadcast career.
In secret, he was a serial rapist.
On Monday, Sharper pleaded guilty in New Orleans Parish Criminal District Court to raping three women in the city in 2013. Monday’s admission concludes a complicated, five-venue, plea deal in which Sharper avoided numerous trials by not challenging charges that he raped nine women in four states during 2013 and 2014.
Sentencing in the New Orleans case will be in late August, a term of roughly 20 years that he will not serve in Louisiana. But as part of his complex multi-state plea, Sharper has a chance to be released from prison in 2024, a shocking short time given the nature of his crimes. In many cases, Sharper has not challenged allegations he drugged the women he raped, often using Ambien, which he was carrying when police in Los Angeles first arrested him on suspicion of rape in 2014.
Sharper, who was previously convicted in California, Arizona and Nevada before Monday’s formal admission in Louisiana will have to adhere to a strict probation when he is eventually released from prison. Terms of his probation – to be served in Arizona – include the wearing of a GPS monitoring device, undergoing penile sensor tests and a ban on drinking alcohol.
The NFL Network fired Sharper in February of 2014 after the allegations against him began to accumulate. But the network was only one of many media organizations duped by Sharper who repeatedly portrayed himself as a leader and role model. He was a favorite of football writers looking for insightful quotes and was adored by the league and his three NFL teams as someone who could speak forcefully on several issues including, ironically, the need to teach young men to have respect for women.
