Wander Franco's attorney to ask court to exonerate his client in sexual abuse case
PUERTO LA PLATA, Dominican Republic (AP) — The attorney for Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco said Monday he will ask the court to exonerate his client of all charges in a sexual abuse case involving a girl who was 14 years old at the time of the alleged crimes.
Franco, who was charged in July 2024 and is on supervised release, could face up to 30 years in prison if found guilty.
'He didn't commit the acts he's accused of,' Teodosio Jáquez told The Associated Press at the end of the fourth hearing at the Collegiate Court of Puerto Plata, a tourist city in northern Dominican Republic where the girl is from.
'They're playing their part, because their job is to accuse. However, what they have to do is prove it,' Jáquez said of the witnesses presented by prosecutors.
The prosecutors say the witnesses' testimony has been vital in proving that Franco sexually abused a minor and paid her mother money for her consent.
'Today, each of these expert witnesses' statements was vital. They established not only the fact of child sexual abuse, but also that they reinforced commercial sexual exploitation and money laundering,' prosecutor Claudio Cordero said.
Documents that prosecutors presented to the judge last year and were viewed by The Associated Press alleged that Franco, through his mother Yudelka Aybar, transferred 1 million pesos ($17,000) to the mother of the minor on Jan. 5, 2023, to consent to the purported abuse.
The mother of the minor has been charged with money laundering and is under house arrest.
Franco also has been charged with sexual and commercial exploitation against a minor, and human trafficking.
Also, on Sunday he was charged with illegal possession of a handgun, prosecutors said.
Franco was arrested Nov. 10 in San Juan de la Maguana after an altercation in a parking lot. No one was injured during the fight, and the handgun, a semiautomatic Glock 19, was found in Franco's vehicle, according to a statement from the Dominican Public Prosecutor's Office.
Franco's attorney says the player did not have the weapon, that it belongs to someone else.
'This is a celebrity, and some media outlets are perverse in trying to harm that young man,' Jáquez added.
Franco, who turned 24 on March 1, was in his third major league season when his career was halted in August 2023. He agreed to an 11-year, $182 million contract in November 2021. He is currently on Major League Baseball's restricted list after initially being placed on administrative leave.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Washington Post
3 hours ago
- Washington Post
The ACLU demands the US release and return a Dominican woman living legally in Puerto Rico
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — In late May, a 47-year-old woman from the Dominican Republic was detained by police in Puerto Rico after she entered a municipal building seeking a permit to sell ice cream on the beach to support herself. Upon being turned over to federal agents, the Dominican woman presented her passport, driver's license and work permits that proved she was living in the U.S. territory legally, her attorney Ángel Robles and the American Civil Liberties Union of Puerto Rico, said Monday.


Associated Press
3 hours ago
- Associated Press
The ACLU demands the US release and return a Dominican woman living legally in Puerto Rico
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — In late May, a 47-year-old woman from the Dominican Republic was detained by police in Puerto Rico after she entered a municipal building seeking a permit to sell ice cream on the beach to support herself. Upon being turned over to federal agents, the Dominican woman presented her passport, driver's license and work permits that proved she was living in the U.S. territory legally, her attorney Ángel Robles and the American Civil Liberties Union of Puerto Rico, said Monday. Despite the documents presented, authorities recently transferred her to Texas as part of a federal crackdown on migrants living illegally in U.S. jurisdictions. The woman, whose first name is Aracelis, has not been fully identified because she is a victim of domestic violence. Aracelis is among hundreds of people who have been detained in Puerto Rico since large-scale arrests began in late January, surprising many in the U.S. territory that has long welcomed migrants. Robles and the ACLU demanded Aracelis' release and return to Puerto Rico. 'It's outrageous,' Robles said in a phone interview. 'No charges have been filed against her, and she is not in the system.' Because her name does not appear in a federal database, Robles' request for a bond hearing was denied. 'This case is one of unspeakable abuse,' said Annette Martínez Orabona, the ACLU director in Puerto Rico. The case has fueled already simmering anger against the administration of Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González Colón and local authorities who have been working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to arrest those believed to be living illegally in the U.S. territory. In a letter sent Monday to the governor and the island's justice secretary, the ACLU accused Puerto Rico's government of violating the Constitution and local laws by providing ICE and U.S. Homeland Security with confidential information on nearly 6,000 immigrants. It also accused ICE of using that data to go on a 'fishing expedition' that it called 'arbitrary and abusive.' A spokesman for Homeland Security Investigations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In Puerto Rico, undocumented immigrants are allowed to open bank accounts and obtain a special driver's license. The ACLU in Puerto Rico also accused González Colón's administration of not providing protocols to local government agencies for how to deal with such requests from the federal government. The ACLU requested, among other things, that Puerto Rico's government issue an executive order barring public agencies from collaborating with ICE subpoenas not accompanied by a court order. A spokeswoman for the governor did not immediately return a message for comment. From Jan. 26 to March 20, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have arrested more than 200 people, the majority of them Dominican. Updated numbers were not immediately available.


New York Times
4 hours ago
- New York Times
Whistle-Blower Who Ignited Sexual Abuse Reckoning Among Southern Baptists Dies
Jennifer Lyell, a former executive at a Southern Baptist publishing house who became an early whistle-blower against sexual abuse in her denomination, died on Saturday in Nashville. Her death took place as thousands of Southern Baptists began arriving in Dallas for their denomination's annual meeting this week. The urgency to confront sexual abuse in the denomination has waned since Ms. Lyell spoke out in 2019 about what she described as ongoing abuse by a professor at a Southern Baptist seminary. Ms. Lyell died at 47 after a series of 'massive strokes,' according to Rachael Denhollander, an activist and lawyer who has represented Ms. Lyell and was a close friend. Ms. Denhollander and other friends said Ms. Lyell's health had declined precipitously since she publicly reported her alleged abuse, making her the subject of intense criticism within the denomination. Ms. Lyell's activism ignited an agonized reckoning over sexual abuse among the Southern Baptists, the country's largest Protestant denomination, that eventually led to a damning investigation and multiple lawsuits. But it came at a high personal price, with critics accusing Ms. Lyell of exaggerating her claims and the seminary professor she accused of abuse filing a defamation lawsuit against her. 'It takes years and years to recover from trauma, and no one should be in the position of having to explain it to the whole public while they're still trying to do that,' she told Religion News Service in 2021. Ms. Lyell was a vice president at the Southern Baptist Convention's publishing arm, Lifeway Christian Resources, when she disclosed to her superior in 2018 that a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary had first 'sexually acted' against her in 2004 on a mission trip, when she was a student. She also shared her account with R. Albert Mohler Jr., the seminary's president. The professor she accused, David Sills, resigned within days. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.