Details emerge in Dominican Republic’s investigation into Wander Franco
WHEN EVERYTHING WAS falling apart for Wander Franco, the incandescent star shortstop for the Tampa Bay Rays, prosecutors in the Dominican Republic allege he opened WhatsApp on his phone and sent a message to the teenage girl with whom he carried on a monthslong relationship and paid to remain quiet about it.
“My girl,” Franco allegedly wrote in Spanish. “If my team realizes this, it could cause problems for me. It is a rule for all teams that we cannot talk to minors, and yet I took the risk and I loved it.”
After a nearly six-month investigation, Franco was arrested on New Year’s Day for not appearing in court to answer a summons from a governmental child-welfare unit in his native Dominican Republic. Prosecutors later accused him of having sex with the 14-year-old girl when he was 21 years old and presented charges of commercial sexual exploitation and money laundering. He could face up to 20 years in prison and is reckoning with the possibility of his MLB career ending at age 22.
In a nearly 600-page document presented to the judge at a hearing this month and obtained by ESPN, prosecutors shared the evidence they have found in their investigation into Franco, underway since a formal complaint was first filed on July 10, 2023. The file includes transcripts of interviews with the girl and her relatives, messages between Franco and the girl, and more.
“There are serious questions regarding the authenticity of particular documents and references contained in the prosecutor’s confidential file, which was inappropriately disclosed to certain media outlets,” said Franco’s United States-based attorney, Jay Reisinger, in a statement to ESPN. “We are in consultation with Mr. Franco’s legal counsel in the Dominican Republic, and we intend to take the necessary legal measures in response.”
A spokesperson for the Puerto Plata Prosecutor’s Office said the office “declines to make any comment regarding an open investigation, as is the case with Wander Franco.”
For all of its salaciousness, Franco’s circumstances are rather straightforward: An All-Star with Hall of Fame aspirations and a nine-figure contract has allegedly committed a crime that could land him in prison for years. The story of the girl, unnamed by ESPN because these are sexual exploitation charges, includes alleged abuse not just from Franco but also her mother, who herself faces charges of money laundering based on gifts and payments from Franco.
In the document, the girl detailed a toxic relationship with her mother, who the girl said “see[s] me as an object to make money.” During an interview with a forensic psychologist, the girl said her mother drinks heavily and “gets violent.” By the time the complaint was filed against Franco, the girl had moved out of her home, away from the woman who raised her.
“I don’t see her as a mother,” the girl told the psychologist. “A mother doesn’t do what she has done with me.”
THE GIRL, now 15 years old, met Franco online, according to prosecutors. According to the documents, he “took her from her home” in Puerto Plata, on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, on Dec. 9, 2022, for two days. During that time, they had sex twice, prosecutors said, and started a relationship that lasted four months.
A cousin who grew up with the girl’s mother later told authorities that Franco would send a helicopter to Montellano, a town near Puerto Plata, to pick up the girl and bring her to see him. Other times, she said, Franco’s driver would ferry the girl from Puerto Plata to Franco’s hometown of Bani, a 3½-hour car ride. One time, the cousin said, the mother paid a taxi driver 16,000 Dominican pesos ($275) so the girl could meet with Franco in Bani.
Franco, the girl told the psychologist, was not shy about being seen in public with her. They went to “various social events,” she said, and she relied on his money “to be formal and groomed and not repeat clothes.” When her mother found out about the relationship, the girl said, “she suddenly started telling him that I needed things” and asked for 100,000 pesos a month.
“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.”
For most of the final two months of their relationship last year, Franco was in spring training with the Rays. After the season began, the relationship strained, and she started seeing someone else. After she told Franco, they talked over WhatsApp, according to the file presented to prosecutors.
Franco wrote: “I would like you to forget everything you have learned to raise you my way.”
She responded: “And what is your way? Without love? Without respect?”
Franco replied: “There was more to it but you’re just a girl and you don’t know how to get along with me, that’s why you failed, but I’ll give you only one chance, you must be only for me. Don’t look at anyone, I know you’ve been with someone else, but no one will know how to use you the way I want.”
According to the documents, the girl said she was upset by the conversation and contacted a reporter, after which her mother filed the official complaint to prosecutors in the Dominican Republic. “I feel sorry because I didn’t want to hurt [Franco],” the girl said. “He was good to me.” About a month later, allegations of the relationship leaked on social media on Aug. 14, prompting Major League Baseball to investigate Franco. The league placed him on administrative leave for the remainder of the 2023 season.
Meanwhile, the girl’s relationship with her mother worsened. Another relative interviewed by authorities told prosecutors that the girl wrote a letter saying she was going to kill herself, alarming family members. She moved out of her home, prompting her mother to file a kidnapping complaint, according to sources. The mother alleged the girl once pulled a knife on her, but the girl said both sides of her family “know that she is the one who has always attacked me because she has alcohol problems and when she drinks and you don’t do what she wants, she gets violent.”
At a relative’s birthday party in August, the girl saw her mother, who she said was drunk, according to the documents. The girl said her mother threw a rock at her and called her a Spanish word for “c—s—er.” That same day, the cousin said, a person driving a Hyundai Sonata rolled by, recording the house. The mother called the cousin two minutes later and warned that people associated with Franco “were going to kill everyone here in the house,” said the cousin — who later realized that the car belonged to the girl’s mother.
In July and August, Franco had given the girl 2.7 million pesos (about $46,000) to support herself until college. With it, she bought an iPhone, an iPad, her school uniform, supplies and personal items. Her cousin helped her open a bank account to deposit the remainder, around $37,500.
Franco had furnished the girl’s mother with even more money. The mother’s receipt of monthly 100,000-peso payments from Franco — about $1,700 — and a new car (a 2023 Suzuki Swift) were discovered by prosecutors during a September raid. Authorities also found $68,500 in American dollars and another 800,000 pesos ($13,700) in her home.
The investigation continued, and in late December, police sought to question Franco, who had returned to the Dominican Republic in December after being placed on leave. They looked for him at his home and his mother’s, then at his uncle’s. Police told Franco’s wife he needed to appear at the prosecutor’s office on Dec. 28. He didn’t show. He did the same Dec. 29. When he finally met with authorities on Jan. 1, he was booked and remained in jail through Jan. 8, when he paid bail after the prosecution’s hearing a few days earlier for coercive measures, a pretrial procedure in which officials try to prevent the accused from fleeing, destroying evidence or intimidating accusers and witnesses.
AFTER THE ALLEGATIONS surfaced in August, the girl posted on social media: “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.”
She then deleted all her accounts.
Franco denied the allegations on Instagram Live that day and hasn’t spoken officially since; his only comments were during a break at the hearing, telling reporters, “It’s all in God’s hands.” Whether he is found guilty, he faces a potentially lengthy suspension from MLB, after which securing a visa to allow him to play in MLB could be more complicated, according to legal sources familiar with the matter.
Both the Rays and the league declined to comment for this story, citing the ongoing investigations.
It’s a dramatic fall for a player around whom the Rays thought they would build their franchise. Franco dropped out of school at 12 years old to pursue a baseball career full time. A switch-hitting shortstop with power and speed, and the nephew of former big leaguers Erick and Willy Aybar, he fetched a $3.8 million bonus in 2017 to sign with the Rays and debuted with them in 2021, just after he turned 20.
The Rays gave him an 11-year, $182 million extension that fall, just 70 games into his major league career. But his true breakout came in the 2023 season, when he was named an All-Star for the first time.
Whether Franco can make a case to collect the $174 million Tampa Bay owes him for the final nine years of the contract remains unresolved. If Franco can’t play because he is imprisoned, the Rays could get out of the deal arguing clause 7.(b)(1) of the league’s uniform player contract, which states teams “may terminate this contract … if the Player shall at any time fail, refuse or neglect to conform his personal conduct to the standards of good citizenship.”
Until a trial — and that won’t come for months, as prosecutors have up to six months to investigate — Franco is free to leave the country, as long as he checks in with police once a month. Officials in the Dominican Republic are divided on how to approach Franco’s prosecution, according to sources. Some would prefer charges of statutory rape to the counts of sexual exploitation and money laundering. The judge in the case, Romaldy Marcelino, suggested Franco instead face counts of sexual and psychological abuse, suggesting the prosecution is being tougher on Franco because he is an MLB player. Sexual abuse convictions carry a two- to five-year prison sentence.
In the meantime, the girl awaits resolution.
“I just wanted to talk,” she told the psychologist, “because I want all of this to end.”
NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. threw a right hook at Kyle Busch, and suddenly, an otherwise boring All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway had NASCAR fans buzzing heading into next weekend’s marquee Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.
Busch had wrecked Stenhouse on the second lap of the $1 million race Sunday night in a move that looked like retaliation for how Stenhouse had raced him earlier. Stenhouse drove his damaged Chevrolet to Busch’s pit stall and parked it, and with no way to get out of the track while the race was going on, stewed in street clothes for hours until Busch arrived at his hauler.
That’s when Stenhouse, after a brief conversation, threw a right hook at the driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet, setting off a brief melee that involved members of each driver’s crew — and Stenhouse’s father. The brawl was eventually broken up, but not before more words were exchanged from both sides and Stenhouse vowed, “I’m going to wreck you at Charlotte.”
“Bring it,” Busch replied. “I suck as bad as you,” implying that both drivers are not having great seasons.
The antics could result in a suspension for Stenhouse, the 2023 Daytona 500 champion, other crew members and possibly his father. Busch also could face a penalty if NASCAR determines that he deliberately caused the wreck.
Stenhouse’s fury was evident the moment he parked in Busch’s pit stall, then climbed the pit stand ladder and had words with members of his crew. As Stenhouse climbed down and walked away, his car had to be towed from pit road.
“I parked it there because I figured Kyle would do something similar,” Stenhouse said.
Later, during an interview with Fox Sports, Stenhouse indicated he would confront Busch after the race.
And then he did.
Stenhouse, dressed in yellow shorts and a gray T-shirt, waited for Busch in the infield and confronted him face-to-face before unleashing a punch. Security jumped in and pulled Stenhouse away, falling backward over a tire, while Busch likewise wound up on the ground. Stenhouse’s father, Ricky Sr., got into the fracas and appeared to take at least one of Busch’s punches.
Stenhouse could be heard yelling “Dad!” numerous times, but he couldn’t get to his father.
“First lap of the race, we don’t even have water temp in the car yet and we’re wrecking each other,” Busch said. “I am tired of getting run over by everybody. But that’s what everybody does: everybody runs over everybody to pass everybody.”
Stenhouse clapped back at Busch: “Go back and watch the replay. I didn’t touch you. Not once.”
Stenhouse took another shot at Busch after the fight, saying he had bad-mouthed him ever since Stenhouse once wrecked him at Daytona, and then went on to say that Busch is just frustrated because “he doesn’t run as well as he used to.”
Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion, is 13th in points and has yet to win a race this season.
The All-Star Race itself lacked any drama once Kyle Larson arrived by helicopter from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the 2021 Cup Series champion had qualified fifth for his Indy 500 debut earlier in the day.
Pole sitter Joey Logano led all but one of the 200 laps to take home $1 million. It was yet another example of NASCAR’s struggles to find the right short track setup despite allowing the use of multiple variations of tires at North Wilkesboro.
“You couldn’t pass,” runner-up Denny Hamlin said. “I would lose a little bit of air there, and I would try to give my car a break and then run at [Logano] again. Hats off to the track, NASCAR and Goodyear for giving it a try. Hopefully, we learned something here for future short tracks.”
Then he smirked and added, “But at least we had an exciting fight in the end. That’s something to talk about.”
INDIANAPOLIS — Kyle Larson kept calm when something seemed amiss in his first qualifying attempt for the Indianapolis 500.
So did everyone else at Arrow McLaren.
They knew they had plenty of speed in his car, so they pushed the No. 17 back to Gasoline Alley, gave a thorough exam to the Chevrolet engine that had Larson on the verge of making the field, and headed right back to the track to give it another try.
This time, Larson was able to stand on the gas all the way through his four-lap run, posting a 232.563 mph average to put the NASCAR star in position to run for the pole. He was sixth-quickest on the first day of qualifying at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, leaving him one of 12 that will shoot for the first spot on the starting grid Sunday.
“I’ll definitely take that,” said Larson, who also will try to become the first driver since Tony Stewart in 2001 to complete the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte on the same day May 26. “Proud of the team for not all of us freaking out.”
There was reason for concern, though, during what started off as a tough day for Arrow McLaren.
Larson was the sixth of 34 cars onto the track, a favorable draw given that quicker speeds tend to happen earlier in the day, when the weather is cooler. And he was off to a good start when, late in the attempt, Larson said his engine seemed to miss; it turned out to be a sort of non-fatal hiccup that cost several other drivers promising runs throughout the day.
Larson’s team wanted him to finish and post a time, but he played it safe and came down pit road.
“We were happy with the speed we had in the 17 before the event happened there,” said Arrow McLaren team principal Gavin Ward, who is working with Hendrick Motorsports to qualify Larson for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
Larson could not eclipse 233 mph on any of his four laps when he returned to the track, leaving him off the pace set by Team Penske, which locked down the top three spots with defending race winner Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin and Will Power.
Still, the run was good enough for Larson to join Arrow McLaren teammate Alexander Rossi in the top six.
“Honestly, I feel like the nerves were a lot less going the second time, even not completing that first run,” Larson said. “I’ve never gotten to qualify like that where you get multiple shots at it.”
Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon, who grew up in nearby Pittsboro and dreamed of running the Indy 500, took a picture of Larson with his cellphone as he finished his run. Gordon then high-fived Jeff Andrews, president and general manager of Hendrick Motorsports, who also showed up to support their driver.
“Now we can breathe,” Gordon said. “Now we can ramp up for tomorrow.”
It could be a big Sunday.
After going for the pole in Indianapolis, Larson is scheduled to fly to North Wilkesboro for the NASCAR All-Star Race in what amounts to a dry run for Memorial Day weekend. But with rain in the forecast in North Carolina, Larson hoped that race would get pushed to Monday night, giving him a bigger travel cushion.
“That would be nice,” Larson said, brightening at the possibility. “I hope it rains tomorrow!”
Larson wasn’t the only Arrow McLaren driver to have problems on the first day of Indy 500 qualifying.
Earlier, Callum Ilott posted a four-lap average of 231.995 mph that put him in the top 10, but the time was thrown out when a technical inspection discovered a problem with the left rear wheel offset on his career. Ilott was slightly slower when he made a second attempt, then he went 232.230 later in the day, putting himself solidly in the field.
Pato O’Ward pulled out of the lineup for his initial run when the team decided to make some changes to his setup, then he had a similar problem to Larson’s first try when he got on the track. O’Ward eventually made the fast 12 at 232.434 mph.
“It’s settling just to know that we’ll be fine to get in the show,” O’Ward said. “This place, you just can’t take it for granted. You’re good one day, you come back the next and everything seems upside down. We just have to keep pushing.”
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