{"id":1588,"date":"2026-05-25T21:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T21:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampamovingjournal.com\/?p=1588"},"modified":"2026-05-25T21:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T21:37:10","slug":"wander-franco-criminally-responsible-for-abuse-judge-finds-but-spared-punishment-in-dominican-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampamovingjournal.com\/?p=1588","title":{"rendered":"Wander Franco criminally responsible for abuse, judge finds, but spared punishment in Dominican case"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n article<\/span><\/div>

Dominican baseball star Wander Franco gestures during his trial in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic on June 26, 2025. Franco was given a two-year suspended sentence after being found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage girl. (Photo by Luis Tavarez \/ <\/span> <\/p>

Read more Tampa Memorial Day ceremony: Gold Star families recognized at downtown Riverwalk<\/a><\/p>

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PUERTO PLATA, Dominican Republic<\/strong> – <\/span>Tampa Bay Rays\u00a0shortstop\u00a0Wander Franco\u00a0was declared criminally responsible for the sexual and psychological abuse of a minor, but he will not serve a sentence for it, a Dominican judge ruled Monday.<\/p>

The backstory:<\/p>

Judge Jos\u00e9 Antonio N\u00fa\u00f1ez, in his decision, considered that Franco had been the victim of extortion and blackmail by the minor’s mother, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually trafficking her daughter.<\/p>

<\/div>

Franco was arrested in January 2024 after being accused of having a four-month relationship with\u00a0a girl who was 14\u00a0at the time and transferring thousands of dollars to her mother to consent to\u00a0the illegal relationship.<\/p>

After the ruling, Franco left the courthouse alongside his lawyer, Teodosio Jaquez, and briefly answered reporters\u2019 questions, saying, “I feel calm,” and asking his fans to “continue supporting me and trusting in me.”<\/p>

The player also said that he personally had not contacted the Rays, but that his lawyers surely had.<\/p>

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“We don\u2019t have the physical sentence in our hands, but he was exempted from punishment because the president of the court established that he was also a victim and because he is exempted from punishment through judicial pardon,” said Teodosio J\u00e1quez, Franco\u2019s attorney.<\/p>

What’s next:<\/p>

The full sentencing will be on June 16.<\/p>

“When we have the full sentence in hand, we will give you more details,” J\u00e1quez said. “He was exempted from punishment, and we think that\u2019s fine, but we need to have the sentence in hand.<\/p>

Dig deeper:<\/p>

In November 2021,\u00a0Franco signed an 11-year, $182 million contract\u00a0with the Rays, but his career was upended when authorities in the Dominican Republic announced in August 2023 that they were investigating him for an alleged relationship with a minor. Franco was 22 at the time.<\/p>

Six months after his arrest, Tampa Bay placed him on the restricted list, which cut off the pay he had been receiving while on administrative leave.<\/p>

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Tampa Bay Rays\u00a0shortstop\u00a0Wander Franco\u00a0was declared criminally responsible for the sexual and psychological abuse of a minor, but he will not serve a sentence for it, a Dominican judge ruled Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,84,182],"tags":[8,86,184],"class_list":["post-1588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime-and-public-safety","category-sports","category-tampa-bay-rays","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-rays"],"yoast_head":"\nWander Franco criminally responsible for abuse, judge finds, but spared punishment in Dominican case - Tampa moving journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampamovingjournal.com\/?p=1588\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wander Franco criminally responsible for abuse, judge finds, but spared punishment in Dominican case - 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