Newsmakers
Indicted Former Saints safety Darren Sharper and two other men were indicted on multiple rape allegations in New Orleans. A district attorney’s spokesman said Sharper was indicted Friday on two counts of aggravated rape stemming from accusations that he sexually assaulted two impaired women in 2013. He also was charged with simple rape of a different woman. Two of Sharper’s friends, Brandon Licciardi and Erik Nunez, also are charged with aggravated rape. Sharper has been jailed in California since Feb. 27, awaiting his next hearing there on charges that he drugged and raped two women in Los Angeles County. Sharper faces similar allegations in two other states.
Arrested According to the Stillwater Police Department, Oklahoma State all-purpose star Tyreek Hill was arrested and charged with punching and choking his pregnant girlfriend on Thursday. The woman said she was eight weeks pregnant with Hill’s child, and was concerned about the fetus because she was in pain after he punched her in the stomach. She said she also was punched in the face, had a busted lip and was choked by Hill. Hill, a 20-year-old junior, was arrested shortly after 11 p.m. on a charge of domestic abuse by strangulation, spent the night in jail and was charged Friday with domestic assault and battery by strangulation, according to a Payne County Court clerk. Hill did not enter a plea. Bond was set at $15,000, and a court date was set for Jan. 13.
Paid Mississippi football coach Hugh Freeze earned a big raise after leading the program to a nine-win season and a spot in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Dec. 31, where No. 9 Ole Miss (9-3) will play No. 6 TCU (11-1). The school said that it’s finalized a contract with Freeze that will pay a base salary of $4.3 million next season – a raise of more than a million from his 2014 salary. The contract runs for four years, which is the longest allowed by Mississippi state law.
Fined Dallas Stars and Kamloops Blazers owner Tom Gaglardi was fined $140,000 for polluting a lake during renovations on his Kamloops, British Columbia vacation property. Gaglardi was found guilty on two counts of harmful alteration of a fish habitat in 2010.
Established Spain’s swimming federation says Mireia Belmonte Garcia broke the world short-course record in the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle at the Spanish short-course championships. Belmonte won in 15 minutes, 19.71 seconds, surpassing the previous record of 15:26.95 set in August by Lauren Boyle of New Zealand.