The Clinton County Prosecutor’s Office has decided not to pursue charges against Michigan State offensive lineman Nick Sharpe after an investigation into a July sexual assault allegation found inconsistencies in the accuser’s accounts.
Sharpe had been accused by an unnamed woman from Dallas, Texas, in connection with a July 17 incident at his East Lansing apartment. Police spent 11 weeks investigating and compiled supplemental reports that included interviews with both sides, DNA evidence and a polygraph test submitted by Sharpe and his attorney, Mike Nichols.
Nichols said in a video statement to The Detroit News on Oct. 14 that the case never had any merit. “Anyone reading the reports about what this woman claimed can see right through it,” Nichols told The Detroit News in a video statement Oct.
- “This was bogus from the start.
It was so clear that she was simply trying to trap Nick.”
He also said the decision not to charge Sharpe had come “weeks ago.” A supplemental police report obtained by The Detroit News says the Clinton County prosecutor made the call on Oct.
- The News had requested the supplemental reports from Bath Township on Sept. 29 and did not receive a response until Oct. 14, after following up again.
The News also contacted Nichols on Sept. 29 asking whether there were any updates.
Sharpe, 23 and a North Carolina native, has started all six games of Michigan State’s season at offensive guard while the case was under review. His 205 offensive snaps rank sixth on the team.
“Really disappointed that it was covered in the first place,” Nichols told The News. “Because in this day and age when anybody can accuse anybody of anything, especially when we’re talking about college athletes who get paid a lot of money to play now, Nick’s (NFL) draft stock is hopefully not going to take a hit.”
The original police report, obtained by The Detroit News in August, said the woman flew to Detroit on July 17 and took an Uber to Sharpe’s apartment. She said she went into his room to watch a movie, where they kissed and he began rubbing her genitals.
She said she told him to stop, that he did not, and that she then began performing oral sex on him. Police also said Sharpe recorded the oral sex on his iPhone, but nothing of evidentiary value was found on the phone when it was examined.
Neither side denied that sexual contact happened. Sharpe said it was consensual and told police he was surprised by the accusation because she had initiated the contact.
During a July 20 interview with a nurse at Methodist Dallas Medical Center as part of a SANE kit evidence collection, the woman said Sharpe was “really rough.” She told the nurse that when she asked him to stop, he did not and said “you don’t tell me to stop.” She said he only stopped because he wanted oral sex, and she did not want to refuse because “I was scared he was going to hurt me.”
But in a July 21 interview with Bath Township police, she said she consented to oral sex because she was nervous.
Then, in a Sept. 15 interview with police, she said the sexual contact was consensual, that Sharpe did not use force and that she did not feel coerced.
Sharpe also took a polygraph test Sept. 1 at Nichols’ office, and the results were submitted to police. When asked whether he had been told to stop, he answered no.
Asked whether he physically forced the woman to perform a sexual act, he said no. Asked whether she initiated the sexual touching, he said yes.
Examiner Kenneth A. MacEachern said his answers did not indicate deception.
The two met through social media. The woman had followed Sharpe on TikTok for some time, and after spotting him in Miami while he was training with former teammates, she messaged him on Instagram on July 13 and mentioned seeing him at Club 24. Sharpe told officers he was sure he had not met her on that trip.
She later flew to Michigan on July 17 to visit him and see him in his “element.” Sharpe paid for her Uber from Detroit Metro to his apartment.
He told police he planned to host her and get to know her. His mother, Nina Johnson, told Bath Township police that Sharpe said he was surprised by how much luggage the woman brought, “as though (she) was attempting to move in.”
Afterward, Sharpe said he was thrown off the next morning at breakfast when the woman brought up an Offensive Lineman Summit in Dallas. He told police he got suspicious and “very uncomfortable,” saying she seemed to be trying to “sweet talk” him and that he thought “this ain’t right.”
Sharpe said he asked her to leave and that she appeared fine with it. The woman told police Sharpe told her, “Yeah, I just don’t see this as something I would pursue.”
Sharpe bought her an Uber to Detroit Metro in Romulus, but after an alleged flight change she ended up going to downtown Detroit and later tried to get him to pay for another Uber to the airport. On his mother’s advice, he blocked her.
The woman later posted Instagram stories referring to Sharpe, and teammate Robert Wright Jr. took screenshots for him. She also messaged teammate Tyran Chappell, who turned those messages over to police.
Chappell said that when he later spoke with her on the phone, she gave him “weird vibes” and the conversation felt “off.” Other teammates told Sharpe she had tried to reach him and then deleted her messages.
In police interviews, the woman confirmed posting the stories and said she was “in my head” and “in my feelings” about what happened. She said the posts stemmed from being recorded and from feeling like she had not been accommodated. She also posted that she received a police escort to her airport gate, but later told police that was not true.
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