Former St. Bernard Parish Deputy Pleads Guilty in Darren Sharper Matter

U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite and Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon A. Cannizzaro, Jr. announced that BRANDON LICCIARDI, age 31, of Mereaux, Louisiana, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to distribute Schedule IV controlled substances with the intent to commit crimes of violence, including rape, before the Honorable Jane Triche Milazzo, United States District Court Judge, Eastern District of Louisiana.

Pursuant to a plea agreement, the parties stipulated that LICCIARDI would be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 17 years, to be served concurrently and co-terminously with any sentence he may receive in the Criminal District Court for the Parish of Orleans.  The statutory maximum punishment for the offense is twenty years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.   LICCIARDI’s plea today was part of a global resolution of the charges against him in federal court and the Criminal District Court for the Parish of Orleans.  Sentencing is set for October 13, 2016.

LICCIARDI, a former St. Bernard Parish deputy sheriff admitted that he, along with former New Orleans Saint DARREB SHARPER and ERIK NUNEZ, a former waiter at Morton’s Steak House, distributed controlled substances to unsuspecting women and then had sexual relations with them while they were incapacitated. 

Most recently, on July 11, 2016, co-defendant ERIC J. NUNEZ pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances to victims without their knowledge, and with the intent to commit a crime of violent, to wit: sexual battery.  Sentencing for NUNEZ is scheduled for October 13, 2016 at 9:30 am.

Previously, on March 22, 2016, co-defendant DARREN SHARPER pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute a Schedule IV Controlled Substance with the intent to commit rape and two counts of Distribution of a Schedule IV Controlled Substance with intent to commit rape; Sentencing for SHARPER is set for August 18, 2016 at 9:30 am.

U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New Orleans Police Department in investigating this matter and thanked District Attorney Cannizzaro and the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office for their invaluable cooperation.  Assistant United States Attorneys Michael E. McMahon, Theodore R. Carter, III, and Brandon Long are in charge of the prosecution.