After reaching the major leagues at just 20 years old, Wander Franco became an MLB superstar by his third season, being named to the All-Star team while helping get the Tampa Bay Rays off to a hot start.
Now, Franco’s once-promising MLB career could be over after more details relating to the investigation into the 22-year-old’s off-field actions have led to several sexual exploitation accusations.
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Wander Franco’s trouble reportedly involves 14-year-old
ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Juan Arturo Recio have obtained a nearly 600-page document presented to the judge at a court hearing earlier this month. The document reveals a collection of evidence prosecutors have uncovered during their six-month investigation into Franco.
Contained within the file includes several transcripts of interviews with the 14-year-old girl and her relatives, in addition to messages between Franco and the girl.
But the charges don’t just accuse Franco. They also target the girl’s mom, who also faces charges of money laundering after allegedly receiving several gifts and payments from Franco.
The girl spoke up about a toxic relationship with her mother, who the girl says views her as “an object to make money,” while admitting her mom drinks a lot, and “gets violent.” The girl no longer lives with her mother as a result of the difficulties. “I don’t see her as a mother. A mother doesn’t do what she has done with me.”
Franco reportedly met the girl online and later “took her from her home” in the Dominican Republic, where prosecutors say he later had sex with her twice, beginning some form of relationship that lingered for four months.
Franco would later send a helicopter to pick the girl up or send a ferry to bring her over 3 hours away to his hometown of Bani. There was even a time when the mother allegedly paid a taxi driver $275 to help set up a meeting between Franco and her 14-year-old daughter.
This reportedly even led to the mother asking Franco for a certain salary each month of 100,000 pesos, but this was nothing new according to the girl.
“Since I was little, my mother has seen me as a way for her to benefit from both the partners she has had and my partners and it is something that I really dislike,” the girl said. “The way she did it with her partners was by telling them that I needed money for my education, the purchase of school supplies or some need related to me.”
Fourteen-year-old girl allegedly involved in Wander Franco investigation
Later, the relationship between Franco and the girl worsened after she felt upset by conversations between the two, she threatened to kill herself. She also made a post on social media, which has since been deleted.
“Look, I’m going to tell you in confidence why I do all this. He used me and as you saw in the messages, he bribed me a lot and they took me out of the school I was in because of him, he has damaged my life and he has not even tried to fix it.”
Franco has not made any official comments since.
Facing charges of sexual exploitation and money laundering, Franco could see up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
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