Tampa Bay Rays Roaming Franco./Getty Images Korea Roaming Franco./Getty Images Korea
[마이데일리 = 심혜진 기자] It is shocking that Wander Franco, who is accused of sexually abusing a minor, has been detained and has even been accused of money laundering for hush money.
The Tampa Bay Times, a local newspaper in the Tampa Bay area of the United States, reported on the 4th (Korea time) that “Dominican Republic prosecutors have indicted Franco on charges of child sexual exploitation and money laundering.”
According to Martin Rodriguez, a reporter for Grupo SIN, a sports media outlet in the Dominican Republic, Franco had an inappropriate relationship with a 14-year-old female child, and later paid 100,000 pesos to the minor’s mother (about 2.25 million won ) a month to keep her quiet.
It’s even more shocking that Franco’s mother also got involved. Franco’s mother also gave 2 million pesos (about 44.9 million won) to the other mother on three occasions. I gave over 500,000 pesos twice and 1 million pesos once.
Prosecutors in the Dominican Republic appear to have found evidence that Franco laundered money in the process of raising money to pay the minor’s mother. His mother also faces the same charges.
When police went to the house of the minor’s mother, they reportedly found 800,000 pesos, $68,000, and a vehicle believed to have been given by Franco.
Franco is currently being held in custody after voluntarily appearing before prosecutors in the Dominican Republic. It seems that he will not be able to avoid being behind bars for some time.
Local prosecutors asked the judge to grant Franco and his mother a travel ban and house arrest, along with $86,000 bail.
Tampa Bay Rays Wander Franco./Getty Images Korea
Franco began to be suspected of criminal sex offenses involving minors in August of last year. The incident became public after the victim sued Franco.
The Premier League office could take disciplinary action against players suspected of sexual misconduct involving minors even if they were not found guilty, and Franco was effectively suspended indefinitely.
As a result, Franco has not been able to play on the field since the game against the Cleveland Guardians on August 13 last year. Franco denied the accusations via a live broadcast on social media.
Then, the prosecutors of the Dominican Republic called Franco to investigate the case, but Franco disappeared. We looked into Franco’s house, Franco’s mother’s house, and even Franco’s uncle’s house, but Franco was nowhere to be found.
Franco, who had gone into hiding, voluntarily appeared before the prosecution with his new legal team on the 2nd. Franco was immediately arrested and detained by prosecutors. This was due to concerns about flying. Prosecutors detained Franco because he had already failed to respond to the summons for questioning.
Franco, who signed with Tampa Bay in 2017, was highly anticipated as he topped the prospect rankings among 30 major league clubs. Franco, who made his major league debut in the 2021 season, played in 70 games and posted a .288 batting average, 7 home runs, 39 RBI, 53 runs, and an OPS of .810 before signing a mega contract worth $182 million (about 238.5 billion won) for 11 years with Tampa Bay.
However, due to this incident, it seems unlikely that we will be able to see the promising talent on display. There is an assessment that his baseball career is over.
Wandering Franco./Getty Images Korea
Reporter Shim Hye-jin cherub0327@mydaily.co.kr
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