Ex-cop implicated in Sharper rape case pleads not guilty

NEW ORLEANS - An ex-law officer implicated in a rape case against former NFL star Darren Sharper has pleaded not guilty to counts of rape, human trafficking and battery.

NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reports Brandon Licciardi, a former St. Bernard Parish deputy sheriff, entered his plea on Friday before Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Karen Herman.

Licciardi is charged with the aggravated rape of a woman on Feb. 2, 2013, and with three counts of human trafficking for the purposes of providing sexual conduct.

He also is alleged to have committed battery with a dangerous weapon on Nov. 17, 2013.

Licciardi is being held without bond on federal charges of distributing drugs to women whom Sharper is accused of raping. He also faces charges of witness tampering.

Sharper is being held without bond in Los Angeles, where he has been jailed since February.

The former NFL star, who played for the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints, faces two counts of rape by use of drugs, as well as drug charges, in connection with accusations from two women in Los Angeles.

He is to be extradited to Louisiana after a federal judge last month ordered Los Angeles officials to transfer him for a Feb. 23 arraignment in New Orleans.