Wanted by New Orleans police as a suspect for two rapes, former football star Darren Sharper was arrested on Thursday in Los Angeles, Reuters reported.
A week before, Sharper had pleaded not guilty to charges of drugging four other women and raping two of them. No comments were given by Sharper or his attorney, Nandi Campbell.
According to a New Orleans Police Department statement on Thursday, 38-year-old Sharper and an acquaintance, Erik Nunez, 26, each are accused to have raped both the women at the same location on the night of September 23, 2013 in New Orleans.
No other details of the alleged assaults were disclosed.
Sharper, who resides in Miami Beach, Florida, was taken into custody on a fugitive warrant on Thursday evening in Los Angeles, though additional details of his arrest were not available, Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Nuria Vanegas said.
Authorities did not disclose any information on the possible whereabouts of Nunez, Reuters reported.
Sharper, a defensive back who played 14 years in the National Football League and helped the New Orleans Saints to a Super Bowl title in 2010, pleaded not guilty to sexual assault and drug charges in Los Angeles on February 20.
Sharper drugged two women with spiked drinks and raped one of them in a hotel room in October, then drugged two more women and raped one of them at the same hotel in January, according to Los Angeles prosecutors.
He pleaded not guilty last Thursday to two counts of rape by use of drugs, four counts of furnishing a controlled substance and one count of possession of a controlled substance, Reuters reported.
After his arrest in January, the five-time Pro Bowl player was suspended from his job as an NFL Network on-air commentator. He was released on $1 million bail in Los Angeles.
Citing sex crime investigations against him in Louisiana, Nevada, Arizona and Florida, Prosecutors had wanted to raise the bail amount to $10 million.
Police in Miami Beach released a report detailing a woman's allegation that the football star had also raped her on the same day that Sharper appeared in Los Angeles court.
The woman told investigators she was intoxicated when she went to Sharper's condo in 2012 and fell asleep. When she woke up, she realized Sharper was having sex with her and left, according to the police report, Reuters reported
Two days after Sharper was arrested in Los Angeles on January 17, the woman reported the 2012 incident to Miami Beach police. No charges in the case have been filed.
