Brandon Licciardi and the Darren Sharper Conspiracy Case

Brandon Licciardi is a former St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, sheriff’s deputy who pleaded guilty in 2016 to conspiring with former NFL safety Darren Sharper to drug and rape women in New Orleans. The Brandon Licciardi and Darren Sharper case ended with a 17-year federal sentence for Licciardi, additional state convictions for human trafficking and forcible rape, and lifetime sex offender registration. He is now finishing his sentence in a New Orleans halfway house, with a Bureau of Prisons release date of April 20, 2026.¹

Who Brandon Licciardi Is

Licciardi held the rank of sergeant with the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office in the suburbs of New Orleans. When the allegations against Sharper became public in early 2014, Sheriff Jimmy Pohlmann confirmed that Licciardi had been moved out of a law enforcement role and into an administrative position.² He resigned before his federal arrest in December 2014.³

His Role in the Sharper Conspiracy

Darren Sharper, a former Pro Bowl safety for the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, and New Orleans Saints, was ultimately linked to attacks on as many as 16 women across Louisiana, California, Arizona, and Nevada. The scheme relied on slipping drugs into women’s drinks to leave them unconscious or unable to resist. Substances used included Alprazolam (Xanax), Diazepam (Valium), Zolpidem (Ambien), and MDMA.⁴⁵

Prosecutors said Licciardi was central to the New Orleans side of the operation. He helped procure the drugs, spiked drinks himself, brought incapacitated women to Sharper’s condominium on Tchoupitoulas Street, and failed to intervene while assaults happened. One victim later told the court that he “was the one who set everything up.”⁶

FBI Special Agent Robert Blythe testified that Licciardi referred to the spiked drinks as “horny juice,” and that text messages between him and Sharper included lines like “She’s on the potion. She’s ready.”⁷

Incidents Tied to Licciardi

Court filings and the factual basis of Sharper’s plea agreement identify at least three victims connected to Licciardi:

On February 1, 2013, Licciardi drugged a woman he met at a pre-Super Bowl party in New Orleans with MDMA, Alprazolam, and Diazepam without her knowledge. She later recalled waking in a shower with Licciardi and then naked in a bed with Sharper. Licciardi admitted raping her, and prosecutors said Sharper also attempted to assault her.⁵
On September 22–23, 2013, two women were drugged and assaulted at Sharper’s condominium. Sharper spiked one victim’s drink with ecstasy while Licciardi was aware of what was happening. That victim, a former Saintsations cheerleader, was described by witnesses as disoriented before Sharper led her away; she later woke to find him raping her. A second woman at the same gathering was assaulted by both Sharper and co-defendant Erik Nunez while incapacitated. Licciardi visited the condo during the assaults and, according to prosecutors, falsely assured a concerned witness that nothing was wrong.⁵
Prosecutors alleged that Licciardi spiked the drink of a friend of the cheerleader after she confronted him about a previous assault. The woman passed out in a club bathroom and later woke up covered in vomit.⁶

Charges, Plea, and Sentence

A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Louisiana indicted Licciardi on December 12, 2014, on six counts: two counts of witness tampering, one count of impeding an investigation, conspiracy to distribute Schedule IV controlled substances with the intent to commit rape, and two substantive drug distribution counts.⁸ He was also charged in Orleans Parish in February 2015 with aggravated rape and assault with a dangerous weapon.⁹

On July 15, 2016, Licciardi pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to distribute Schedule IV controlled substances with the intent to commit crimes of violence, including rape. The plea agreement carried a stipulated 17-year sentence to run concurrently with any state sentence, part of what prosecutors called a global resolution of both cases.¹⁰ Two weeks later, he pleaded guilty in state court to three counts of human trafficking and one count of forcible rape.¹¹

At sentencing on October 20, 2016, two victims addressed the court and rejected his apology. The former Saintsations cheerleader told him, “I guess the ‘King of Chalmette’ has fallen. The cop that couldn’t stop a crime from happening,” and urged him to “do the right thing and start talking. Tell the truth.” A second victim described waking to find Sharper assaulting her, with bruises covering her body and a black eye she could not explain, and told the defendants, “You took away my permission and decided to do the unthinkable.”⁶

U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo sentenced Licciardi to 17 years in federal prison, three years of supervised release, a $100 special assessment, and lifetime sex offender registration. Co-defendant Erik Nunez received 10 years and 15 years of registration. Sharper had been sentenced in August 2016 to 18 years in federal prison as part of a global plea resolving cases in Louisiana, California, Arizona, and Nevada.¹²¹³

Where He Is Now

On April 16, 2025, Licciardi, then 40, was transferred from the federal correctional institution in Seagoville, Texas, to supervision by the Dallas residential re-entry management office. As of late May 2025, public records listed his address as a New Orleans halfway house roughly eight miles from the sheriff’s office where he once worked. His Bureau of Prisons release date is April 20, 2026.¹

Louisiana’s police licensing board permanently revoked his law enforcement credentials in late 2023. He is now employed at a business with ties to his father, formerly a high-ranking deputy in St. Bernard Parish. A Bureau of Prisons spokesperson declined to provide further details about the transfer, citing privacy and security concerns. His attorney, Brian Capitelli, said his client “has served his sentence and is trying to move forward with his life.”¹

1
The Guardian. Ex-Sheriff’s Deputy in 2016 NFL Rape Case
2
FOX 8 Live. Source Says Warrant Issued in Darren Sharper Case
3
U.S. Department of Justice. Former St. Bernard Deputy Sheriff and Former Saints Player Indicted for Drug Distribution and Obstruction Charges
4
ProPublica. Police Fail to Stop NFL Darren Sharper Rape Spree
5
U.S. Department of Justice. Sharper Plea Agreement Factual Basis
6
NOLA.com. Rape Victims Reject Brandon Licciardi, Erik Nunez’s Apologies
7
CBS News. FBI: Cop in Darren Sharper Rape Case Called Spiked Drink “Horny Juice”
8
FBI. Former St. Bernard Deputy Sheriff and Former Saints Player Indicted
9
FOX 8 Live. Darren Sharper Co-Defendant Pleads Not Guilty to Rape and Assault
10
U.S. Department of Justice. Former St. Bernard Parish Deputy Pleads Guilty in Darren Sharper Matter
11
8 News Now. Sharper Rape Case Co-Defendants Enter State Guilty Pleas
12
U.S. Department of Justice. Darren Sharper’s Co-Defendants Sentenced
13
ESPN. Darren Sharper Co-Defendants Sentenced in Drug Rape Case