But the five-day, four-night vacation extravaganza from New Orleans to Cozumel, Mexico scheduled to begin March 13 no longer has another former Saints star player — safety Darren Sharper — attached to the event, a woman working for the booking agency connected to the cruise, confirmed Sunday.
“(Sharper) is no longer involved in any way,” said the woman. “He was removed when the news broke in January.”
The “news” about Sharper, a former Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champ with the Saints, has been nothing short of disturbing since a January arrest in Los Angeles, and then Friday’s announcement by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office that Sharper, 38, has been charged with seven felony drug and rape counts in connection with two separate incidents. Sharper faces 30 years in prison if convicted in the California case.
But the former NFL safety also is under investigation in at least three other states (Louisiana, Arizona and Nevada) for similar alleged criminal behavior — drugging women and later sexually assaulting them after they have passed out. The felony complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court accuses Sharper of using the drug zolpidem (known by its brand name, Ambien, a sleeping aid) to drug his alleged victims.
“We’ve seen (zolpidem) in a lot of cases because it works very well,” Trinka Porrata, a former LAPD detective in the narcotics division who is the president of the non-profit Project GHB, told the Daily News. “In some instances, zolpidem is similar to GHB (gamma hydroxy butyrate) in that it causes amnesia and causes odd behavior a person wouldn’t otherwise normally do.”