MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFFPhoenix police release Warren Sapp's mug shot shortly after busting the NFL Network analyst for soliciting a prostitute.
Former NFL defensive tackle Warren Sapp’s Super Bowl trip in Phoenix ended with a pink slip from his employer and a trip to the Maricopa County jail after the ex-Buccaneer and Raider was arrested by Phoenix police and booked on charges of soliciting prostitution and two counts of assault.
Sapp was in town for the NFL title game as an analyst for the NFL Network — where he had worked since 2008 — but was fired by the network Monday, and had his contract terminated, according to Alex Riethmiller, the NFL Network’s VP of communications.
“On February 2, 2015 at 2:30 a.m. Phoenix Police officers working security at a Downtown Phoenix hotel were investigating a noise disturbance when they were contacted by a female alleging she had been assaulted,” reads a statement released by a Phoenix police spokesman. “The incident was alleged to have occurred in a guest room, after meeting in the lobby while she and another female were there as escorts. During a meeting in the room, an argument ensued, allegedly over money and the altercation turned physical, spilling out into the hallway.
“During the investigation detectives were able to establish that an act of prostitution occurred in the room by at least one of the females. Sapp was detained and transported to Phoenix Police Headquarters,” the statement says. “While there he was questioned and admitted involvement in the act of prostitution, but denied assaulting the females. Minor injuries consistent with a struggle, were observed by investigators on both females.”
Phoenix police said one of the females was cited for one count of prostitution and released. The second female left the scene before authorities arrived but she was later located at a Peoria hotel, where she was interviewed, cited for a violation of the city’s escort permit requirements and released.
This is not the first time Sapp has run into legal trouble. He was arrested by Miami Beach authorities in February 2010 and was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery. According to a police report, Sapp choked his then-girlfriend and shoved her onto a couch. Sapp was pulled from the NFL Network’s Super Bowl coverage following that arrest.
Sapp is a Hall of Famer and won a Super Bowl title with Tampa Bay in 2003. During an appearance at the Waldorf-Astoria last September for the annual “Great Sports Legends” gala to benefit the Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis, Sapp was asked by the Daily News what he thought of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s and the league’s response to the domestic violence cases that were dominating the football headlines last fall.
