PHOENIX -- Former Arizona Cardinal Luis Sharpe has been sentenced to six years in prison and four months probation after pleading guilty to drug possession charges, the Maricopa County attorney said on Friday.

Sharpe was arrested on Feb. 19 when police said they found crack cocaine in his car. He was pulled over shortly after midnight near 32nd Street and Broadway Road after police clocked him going 40 mph in a 25 mph zone, according to court paperwork.

The officer discovered Sharpe was driving on a suspended license and placed him under arrest, the paperwork shows.

A subsequent search of Sharpe's vehicle turned up a rock of crack cocaine in a baggie under the driver's seat, according to the paperwork.

Sharpe pleaded guilty to two counts of possession or use of narcotic drugs, one count of possession of drug paraphernalia and one count of possession or use of narcotic drugs.

Before the February arrest, Sharpe's last run-in with the law was in November, when the manager of an adult bookstore in central Phoenix complained that he had seen Sharpe smoking crack cocaine.

Sharpe's arrest history dates back to 1995, when officers arrested him on suspicion of sexual assault and resisting arrest. He has since been arrested numerous times on drug charges, including in 2004 when he was sentenced to two and a-half years in state prison.

In 2000, authorities considered deporting Sharpe to his native Cuba after he finished serving a sentence on drug charges at the state prison in Perryville. He was allowed to remain in the U.S. after he vowed to clean up his life.

In a pre-sentence report, Sharpe admitted that he first started using cocaine when he was a 21-year-old rookie in the NFL and it was "the worst mistake I ever made."

Sharpe played in the National Football league for 13 seasons before a leg injury forced him to retire in 1994. He was the Cardinals' first-round draft pick in 1982 and became a three-time Pro Bowl offensive lineman for the Cardinals.

His daughter, Leah, was murdered in Phoenix last June.

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