Cnn
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A court of Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic, discovered that the baseball player Wander Franco – Rays of Tampa Bay – guilty of abuse and sexual exploitation of a minor and imposed a sentence of two years in prison, although the sanction was suspended with the restriction that he did not approach minors.
“As a condition, for the moment, we will only indicate to wander, as the rule indicates, when the sanction is suspended, the conditions must be imposed: that he does not approach minors for sexual purposes,” said judge Jakaira Veras García, of the college courtyard of the judicial district of Porto Plat, alongside his colleagues Venecia Rojas and José Joséez.
According to the reasoning of the sentence read by judge Veras García, Franco was subject to the blackmail and the constraint of the mother of the minor to obtain money from the baseball player. Franco’s defense asked for an acquittal of the accusations from the start of the trial.
In addition, the mother of the minor was also sentenced to 10 years in prison for the crime of sexual exploitation of minors. Franco and the mother of the minor were sentenced to a fine of the equivalent of around US $ 3,650 and US $ 11,050, respectively. The two had denied the accusations against them separately.
In relation to the mother’s sentence, according to the prosecutor’s indictment, she was also accused of minor sexual exploitation, money laundering and enrichment by acts of illicit origin, receiving a more serious sentence.
After leaving the trial, Franco’s lawyer said they would wait to read the written judgment and appeal from the decision, without giving more details. After hearing the trouble, the baseball player melted in tears in the courtroom and refused to comment on the press.
Luis Martinez, an officer of the Dominican Attorney General, refused to comment on Franco’s sentence.
CNN requests comments from the prosecutor’s office concerning the sentence inflicted on Franco because they had asked for a sentence of five years in prison.
Major League Baseball told CNN that he was aware of Franco’s verdict and would end his investigation at a “appropriate moment”, without providing additional details.
“Major League Baseball is proud to have a collectively joint domestic violence policy, sexual assault and children’s mistreatment policy that reflects our commitment to these questions,” added the League.
Franco has not played with the team since the charges were revealed.
At that time, MLB placed it on administrative leave, while the team refused to make public statements.
The case has attracted national and international attention since August 2023, when the Dominican media revealed that Franco was the subject of an investigation for having allegedly had a relationship with a minor.
