Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco was declared criminally responsible for the sexual and psychological abuse of a minor, but he will not serve a sentence, a Dominican judge ruled on Monday.
In his decision, Judge José Antonio Núñez 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.
Franco was arrested in January 2024 after he was accused of having a four-month relationship with a girl who was 14 at the time and transferring thousands of dollars to her mother to consent to the illegal relationship.
After the ruling, Franco left the courthouse alongside his lawyer, Teodosio Jaquez, and briefly answered reporters’ questions, saying, “I feel calm,” and asking his fans to “continue supporting me and trusting in me.”
The player also said that he personally had not contacted the Rays, but that his lawyers had.
“We don’t 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 Jáquez.
The full sentencing will be on 16 June.
“When we have the full sentence in hand, we will give you more details,” Jáquez said. “He was exempted from punishment and we think that’s fine, but we need to have the sentence in hand.
In November 2021, Franco signed an 11-year, $182m contract with 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.
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.