Prosecutors in the Dominican Republic have actually brought official charges versus Wander Franco, tweets Juan Arturo Recio of ESPN. Franco is formally dealing with charges of sexual assault and sexual exploitation versus a small, according to the report.

Franco has actually been on administrative leave for the whole 2024 season. He has actually not played in the majors given that social networks claims emerged last August implicating Franco of having sexual relations with a 14-year-old woman. The age of permission in the Dominican Republic is 18.

In January, district attorneys declared that Franco paid the woman’s mom the equivalent of countless dollars to stay quiet about the supposed abuse. According to a Spanish-language report from Listín Diario, the woman’s mom is dealing with charges of trafficking, sexual exploitation and cash laundering.

While district attorneys at first showed they were thinking about charging Franco with commercial/sexual exploitation and cash laundering, a judge decreased the prospective charges versus him to sexual and mental abuse. Those charges featured a prospective jail term of 2 to 5 years. The court provided district attorneys till July to figure out whether to formally bring charges, which they have actually chosen to do.

MLB is most likely to wait on the legal procedures to play out before imposing any discipline versus Franco under the domestic violence/child abuse policy. Administrative leave, which is ruled out punitive, is developed to permit the league to carry out an examination after gamers are implicated of an infraction. MLB and the Players Association have actually currently consented to extend Franco’s leave till the All-Star Break. It is most likely they’ll continue to do so till the legal procedure in the D.R. is solved.