Darren Sharper Indicted

Almost 10 months after the Los Angeles County District Attorney‘s Office charged NFL safety Darren Sharper with seven felony counts, including two counts of rape by use of drugs, the 39-year-old Sharper was indicted in Louisiana Friday on aggravated rape and simple rape charges following a grand jury investigation.

If convicted of committing aggravated rape in Louisiana, Sharper would face “life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence,” according to a press release issued by the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office earlier this year, citing Louisiana state law. The Orleans Parish DA obtained arrest warrants for Sharper and his acquaintance, Erik Nunez, on Feb. 27, 2015.

According to a spokesman for the Orleans Parish DA, Sharper was indicted on two counts of aggravated rape and one count of simple rape, Nunez was indicted on two counts of aggravated rape and one count of obstruction of justice, and another Sharper acquaintance, Brandon Licciardi, was indicted on three counts of human trafficking, one count of aggravated rape and one count of aggravated battery. Licciardi, a sergeant who worked in the traffic division of the St. Bernard (La.) Sheriff’s Office until being reassigned in June after he was under investigation, resigned Friday.

Sharper has already pleaded not guilty to charges in the L.A. County case. He remains jailed in Los Angeles. His lead attorney, Blair Berk, did not return a call and email from the Daily News for comment.Sharper was served an indictment by Tempe, Ariz. detectives March 12, and he was charged with two counts of sexual assault and three counts of administering dangerous drugs.

A Las Vegas investigation into similar alleged criminal behavior by Sharper — drugging women and sexually assaulting them — is still open, according to a Las Vegas Metro Police spokesman. A Miami Beach investigation of Sharper for alleged sexual assault was closed in May and no charges were filed.

Arizona authorities announced in March that they would not seek to extradite Sharper to face charges there until the Los Angeles rape case was completed. The Orleans Parish DA spokesman and assistant DA, Christopher Bowman, told the Daily News that while it is his office’s policy not to “comment on open cases, which this is now, all I will say is we are confident that we will be able to try Mr. Sharper within the time limits allowed under the law.”