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Updates from Thursday, May 15

Brent Schrotenboer of USA Today provides an update on Darren Sharper's legal situation:

Former NFL star Darren Sharper will not face rape charges in Miami, authorities announced Thursday, citing a lack of evidence. The decision regarding the case in Miami Beach was not a surprise, largely because the alleged victim did not file a complaint until more than three months after the alleged incident last fall.

Updates from Friday, Mar. 7

According to USA Today, Darren Sharper will attempt to seek his release from prison on Friday:

Darren Sharper will return to court on Friday where his attorneys will argue that the former NFL All-Pro safety should be released from a Los Angeles jail. Sharper has been held without bail because of an arrest warrant issued by Louisiana authorities accusing him and another man of raping two women. Sharper's attorneys filed a motion Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court arguing that since Sharper has not been formally charged in Louisiana, he should be released on the terms of $1 million bail he has already posted. [...] The athlete's attorneys contend that Los Angeles prosecutors are using the Louisiana case to improperly keep Sharper behind bars until his Los Angeles case is resolved. "This appears to be an attempt to detain Mr. Sharper indefinitely and unconstitutionally without bail," his attorneys Blair Berk and Leonard Levine wrote in Thursday's motions.

Meanwhile, TMZ provides Sharper's ex-girlfriend's take on the charges:

The woman, who asked not to be named in this post, told us Sharper was not a booze-obsessed, drink-spiking maniac during their time together. In fact, the woman says, "He didn't want me to drink. Never offered me drugs. He was really concerned with how I was around him." "I've seen him help people. We went to a charity event together. He was egotistical, but the guy that I know is not like [the way he's been described in police reports]."

Updates from Thursday, Mar. 6

According to Brent Shrotenboer USA Today, Darren Sharper has admitted to having sex with multiple women last September without their consent:

Former NFL star Darren Sharper admitted to witnesses that he and another man had sex with two women in New Orleans without their permission last September, according to a report by a New Orleans police detective obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

The report also details the state of the women during these alleged events:

The New Orleans police report says the two alleged victims were "impaired by the substance to the degree that both do not recall the entirety of the sexual intercourse."

Updates from Friday, Feb. 28

Andrew Blankstein of NBC reports that Sharper has turned himself in to police in Louisiana after the rape charges levied against him yesterday:

Former New Orleans Saints star and NFL Network commentator Darren Sharper voluntarily surrendered to police late Thursday after they issued an arrest warrant for the alleged rapes of two women last year in the city’s Central Business District earlier that day, a source familiar with the case told NBC News. An acquaintance of Sharper, Erik Nunez, 26, also is facing charges in the rapes of women, which police said occurred in September 2013. According to court documents filed in Los Angeles, one of the alleged victims in New Orleans met Sharper at a Sept. 22 event for Saints football players and later accompanied him to a bar, where he gave her a drink. Her next memory was around 10 a.m. on Sept. 23, when she woke up to find Sharper “on top of her sexually assaulting her,” the documents said. But in a press release issued Wednesday, police said that investigators subsequently learned that “not one, but two women were allegedly sexually assaulted by Sharper in the same apartment the night of Sept. 23. New information uncovered also indicates that Nunez also allegedly raped both women that night at the same location.”

Updates from Thursday, Feb. 27

Clint Durrett of WDSU.com has an update on Darren Sharper's legal issues:

An arrest warrant was issued for former New Orleans Saints safety Darren Sharper by the New Orleans Police Department. An arrest warrant was issued for 38-year-old Sharper on two charges of aggravated rape. An arrest warrant was issued for Sharper's acquaintance, 26-year-old Erik Nunez, on charges of aggravated rapes of two women in New Orleans last September. Sharper and Nunez each face two counts of aggravated rape.

Updates from Thursday, Feb. 20

TMZ's Staff reports details of surveillance footage from a bar Darren Sharper allegedly attended the night of the alleged incident:

According to the police report ... Sharper's accusers claim they partied with the NFL star at a bar called The Mint for roughly 10 to 15 minutes in the hours before he allegedly drugged and raped the 2 women.



Problem is, multiple sources tell TMZ Sports ... Sharper is nowhere to be seen in security footage taken from The Mint on the night of the alleged attacks.



In addition ... multiple staff members also told cops they never saw Sharper inside their bar that night.



TMZ also provided the terms of Sharper's bail:

The judge set Sharper's bail to $1 million and set a series of strict terms, which were actually proposed by Sharper's lawyer:



-- Sharper is to remain in L.A. County

-- Sharper was ordered to surrender his passport

-- Sharper must stay away from nightclubs or bars or any other establishments where alcohol is the primary item for sale.

-- Sharper may NOT be alone with any female he did not know prior to October 30, 2013.



Later in the day ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that Sharper may have been involved in another investigation:

Original Text

Former NFL player Darren Sharper was charged with two counts of rape and several other charges in a Los Angeles court on Friday.

From Rand Getlin of Yahoo Sports:

TMZ Sports first reported the charges:

Darren Sharper has just been charged with 2 counts of rape in L.A. ... after the former New Orleans Saints superstar allegedly drugged multiple women and raped them in his hotel room ... TMZ Sports has learned. Among the charges ... two counts of rape by use of drugs, four counts of furnishing a controlled substance and one count of possession of a controlled substance, all felonies. Sharper -- who had a Hall of Fame-caliber NFL career as a safety -- is accused of drugging the women with zolpidem (Ambien).

Zolpidem is better known as Ambien.

Sharper was arrested on January 17 in Los Angeles but posted $200,000 bail. He was immediately suspended from his analyst position at the NFL Network without pay.

The charges are in relation to alleged sexual assaults that took place in October and January. After his arrest, LAPD spokeswoman Sally Madera said that the charges fell under California Penal Code 261(A)(30), "where a person is prevented from resisting by any intoxicating or anesthetic substance, or any controlled substance, and this condition was known, or reasonably should have been known by the accused."

Sharper adamantly denied the charges, via TMZ Sports, and has claimed that in one of the cases, a sexual encounter did occur but was consensual. He claimed to have no idea who the other woman accusing him of rape is and said she fabricated the story.

Sharper's legal troubles aren't confined to Los Angeles, however, as he was also accused of raping a woman in New Orleans in September, according to a police report released on January 24. An investigation related to those accusations is currently ongoing, and charges have not been filed as of now.

Sharper spent 14 years in the NFL playing safety for the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints, finishing his career with 63 interceptions. He made five Pro Bowls and was a first-team All-Pro selection in 2000 and 2009.

Now, however, Sharper faces three different accusations of rape and several criminal charges.