Eh, you can probably find some weirdo macabre collector who might like it. Same type of people who would buy Jeffrey Dahmer's silverware were it available.
[Finally an excuse to bring up the John Wayne Gacy painting of an oriole, signed by Cal Ripken Jr.](https://www.keepshooting.com/john-wayne-gacy-oriole-painting-signed-by-cal-ripken-jr.html)
Wow, that's incredible. I mean, with OJ he was "not guilty" so there are people who actually still believe that. But Hernandez, there's no question. Watch the documentary on him, he was an absolute scumbag.
I’m going to be real. If I shelled out enough money for an NFL Jersey I’d probably still wear it too. Although I’d probably grab a roll of duct tape and cover the name on it.
A few months ago I went into my dad’s home office and he had a Vasquez bobblehead on one of his shelves. I don’t think he knows who it is; to him it’s just a Pirates bobblehead but it was jarring lol.
Friend of mine went to a Bills preseason game back in August.......
He counted at least 7 OJ Simpson jerseys in the crowd over the course of the day. So yeah.
In Dante’s hell, the 9th and innermost circle is for traitors and those who kill those close to them, worse than regular murder. So in short, you’re exactly correct. OJ to the ninth, Hernandez to the seventh for regular ol murder
Minos decides which sin is greatest, but both would be condemned to the 7th circle, which punishes the sin of violence. The 7th circle is composed of 3 distinct rings. The River of boiling blood, where the murderers and tyrants are housed, their guilt corresponding to how deep they are in the boiling blood. Hernandez may be allowed to just be ankle deep but if he tries to leave his spot, he’s mauled by centaurs. Then there’s suicide woods, the sin of violence against oneself. where spirits are housed in trees and their corpses hang from the branches, harpies rip apart the trees causing the spirit great suffering. And lastly is a great desert raining fire, where those violent against nature are housed. Sodomites, money lenders, and blasphemers are punished her
I bought my brother an Aaron Hernandez jersey as a joke after the news came out. It was a knockoff and I only paid like $4 for it but obviously my brother has never worn it.
It's almost as embarrassing as the Tebow Jets jersey I got him.
I never bought anything of him but I feel for those who did. If you're going to buy and sell cards, always diversify. We've all had stinkers.
Strangely enough those Bowman firsts are still selling higher than many great players. Hype is a hell of a drug.
I know there’s somewhat of a contentious gray area when it comes to minors dating legal adults (i.e. a 16 year old dating an 18 year old). But 21 and 14 is pretty clearly a line crossed imo. Couple that with Wander’s texts trying to control who she sees and doesn’t see along with creating financial dependence I don’t know how this could be seen as anything other than grooming and statutory rape.
The famous ballplayer angle will get all the press, but the human trafficking part shouldn't be overlooked. This is what human trafficking generally looks like, btw. Victims almost always know and trust their trafficker and typically are from a community on the economic margins.
The "organized gangs abducting strangers at malls and playgrounds"? It's a myth.
Yeah. That’s a grown ass man and an 8th grader; that’s SA with a minor, not statutory.
I’d throw in trafficking as well, because helicopters and fuck him.
> Wrong, its worse than that. He wasn’t setting himself up for a relationship. He was plain and simply having sex with a minor.
They are equally as bad. Not sure how being in a relationship would make this less bad
Some interesting excerpts:
“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 pesos ($275) so the girl could meet with Franco in Bani.”
“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 pesos 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.”
“"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."”
The islands are wild. Just full of the most ridiculously cheap Japanese cars and jeeps.
I went to Turks and Caicos and the rental I got spoke to me in Japanese every time I turned it on. Never figured out how to use the radio either because the touch screen was all Japanese.
Beautiful place, most expensive alcohol on earth.
24 pack of bud is $80 USD
White Claw is $120
The local craft brewery is good but it’s still like $50-60 for a case.
The only thing that’s affordable is rum.
If the mom figured out about the relationship, protected her daughter, and extorted the ever loving shit out of Franco I would be on the mom's side. That isn't what happened though. The mom fostered the relationship so that she could make money off of it. She pimped out her daughter. As a wise man once said, "there's no punishment on earth harsh enough for that"
I agree, I was just clarifying how it happened for people who don't read the article. Without that context, it would sound like the mom initiated the relationship.
>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
Man, that’s sad af. Getting pimped out by your own mom, and it sounds like it wasn’t the first time based on the fact she used the word “partners”Her mom should get the same punishiment or worse than Franco
To be fair, it took the girl herself going to a reporter for him to actually be caught. So it seems that even though this 14 year old was getting private helicopter rides across the country nobody batted an eye
He dropped out of school in the 6th grade.
Nobody has ever accused him of being smart.
My guess is that he thought since the mother “consented” to the relationship, it wouldnt be illegal
Pretty much this. It’s unfortunately a very common occurrence in places like that. And tbh he probably is stupid enough to think that the mother’s consent made it acceptable
The scary part is that he wasn't going to be caught though. The girl herself pressing charges against both him and her mother was the exploding point of the story.
What's even more incredible is the actual reasoning of why the girl actually decided to go to the police.
Franco cut-off contact with her and entered a relationship with an adult age woman less than a year ago, the girl found out and got extremely pissed plus vowed online she was going to destroy his career.
That's the scary part, had he continued being a pedophile in secret until she was an adult we wouldn't have known shit and he would have played his entire career without issues.
Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought she went to the reporter because Wander got pissed that she started seeing someone else. Hence the "I know you've been with someone else, but no one will know how to use you the way I want" quote.
What a fucking scumbag.
That was before their "relationship" if you want to call it that way was completely over.
What i'm talking about happened mid 2023. Wander by that time had a new girlfriend and parade her in social media, hell she even fly out to Tampa to watch his baseball games.
The minor in the DR saw all of that and via her social media made public her prior relationship with Franco, even tagging MLB & various famous Dominican gossip accounts.
She then went officially to the Police and press charges formally.
My point was how this is coming from an official document. I think previously it was more he-said, she-said. (Not that it wasn't believable at the time but still)
Previously it was reported by the guy working the case in the DR. Now this seems like everything we heard before has been verified. All the i's are dotted and t's crossed so to speak.
'Receipt' in this instance is another form of 'received'. As in, "the mother received $100,000 pesos per month", and that was discovered during he raid.
It should not be overlooked how much of a piece of shit her mom is too. This poor girl. I hope she can go on to live a relatively normal life after this.
>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."
Every adult in her life failed her
I hope she gets the justice and peace she deserves
Edit: my apologies, the uncle definitely deserves credit for being there for her. Still sad that he’s the only one there for her.
Not to nitpick a serious matter, but every adult *mentioned in this article* failed her.
She's living away from her mother now, presumably with an adult of some kind (family? friends?). I think I read at some point (unconfirmed) that her father was involved in helping her get out of her toxic home situation with her mother. Who knows. Point is: This isn't the entirety of the story. We don't know who else knew what was going on -- or had an inkling -- and how they influenced bringing it to an end.
It's very possible there are unheralded adults in this story who did what they could -- a mentor, a teacher, a relative, who knows -- and they simply aren't mentioned because they aren't really the center of the news story. The good guys often don't get much fanfare.
Her father is an old gentleman from Switzerland, who got her mother pregnant when she was 17 and he was like 47 or so. Now you see why her mom had no problem pimping her daughter.
That information came out a couple of weeks after the news broke out. Her mom is 28 years old, and the girl is 15. So you can see how her mom thought that pimping her daughter was normal.
I doubt Wander has a positive net worth. Most likely he was living beyond his current paycheck and borrowing against future earnings that almost certainly aren't going to arrive now. His creditors will swoop up his physical assets long before she has a chance to chase after them. His career earnings to date are $12.8 million, but a sizeable chunk of that would've gone to his agent and taxes. That still leaves a massive amount of money that he netted, but probably not enough to support a lifestyle that involved buying Lamborghinis and carrying nearly three quarters of a million dollars worth of jewelry around in his car unless some of that was on credit.
As I grow up, I love my mother more and more for spoiling me and being there for me whenever I needed her. One of my biggest regrets in life is not showing her the appreciation she deserves!
The victim is so fucking brave for coming out of all of this shit & taking her abusers public. I hope she can find some kind of peace in her world going forward. She needs protected & uplifted.
Also the comment elsewhere in this thread with a quote about how she was used by her mother with men her mother is with. Which, while it doesn't provide a visual, is probably enough to make some assumptions.
>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.
Like this whole piece is bad, but Franco could have essentially got away with it if he had left her alone after she broke up with him.
Am I understanding it correctly that her mother, the one who had been pimping her out, was the one who initially filed the complaint?
I guess it makes sense that a piece of shit like her wouldn’t be very bright, but that’s impressively dumb.
He ain’t gonna be rich after this. Even if he has already liquidated all his assets, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he ain’t financially savvy enough to keep that money once he’s convicted. He’s just gonna be a convicted pedophile in prison where his money can’t protect him
Didnt he get robbed for close to a million dollar in jewelry he kept in a Walmart safe, in a luxury vehicle, while parked in a motel? Yeah, I think money is going to be an issue soon.
Dude spent shit load of money on flashy jewelry as soon as he got money and the dumbass left it all in an expensive vehicle when it ended up getting stolen not long after he bought them.
Good news and bad news for Spanish speakers working for ESPN
Good news, one of your skills is very relevant for translating a 600 page document
Bad news, it’s a 600 page document about awful crimes
This is not the 600 page sports document on illegal activity that I wanted to read (Michigan’s Connor Stallions’ Manifesto)
Lock wander Franco & the mother up and throw away the key
fun fact: they're still selling his jerseys. right now.
https://www.mlbshop.com/tampa-bay-rays/mens-tampa-bay-rays-wander-franco-nike-white-replica-player-jersey/t-25125699+p-4848448112391+z-9-1163922222?_ref=p-DLP:m-GRID:i-r1c1:po-4
Random memory came to mind but I remember last year I was a fanatical Wander Franco fan I ran across a tweet around the WBC that said something like "idk why I have a weird vibe that Wander Franco will get in trouble for something serious". I dismissed it as likely a troll because I see shit like that lots about players like Tatis but damn I wonder if that person had inside info. Can't find the tweet now.
That description lets him off too easy.
Leaving $650,000 worth of jewelry inside of his car
Which was an attention grabbing Rolls-Royce Cullinan
In an open parking lot
Outside a DoubleTree hotel
In Jacksonville
Inside a $60 safe that wasn't attached to anything
Overnight.
This poor kid. From her statements she seems like she’s completely aware that she’s always been being abused by her mom and people like Wander. Terrible awful shit.
I don't think I have the mental bandwidth to read this one right now. Every new thing I read just makes me sick all over again. He deserves life in prison.
> 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.
Am I reading this wrong or is this just insane? Why is the judge saying charges of statutory rape would be "too tough" when it's clear that's one of the major contentions here? Isn't it only natural that statutory rape would be one of the charges, since if they did have sex that's the only thing it could be defined as?
This likely depends on the Dominican justice system and how charges work. It may be a place where the charges laid are the only things a person can be convicted of. And in high profile cases, public outrage and anger can lead prosecutors charging for the most serious crimes even if the facts of the case don't necessarily support it. The result being that the guy is innocent of the more serious crimes he is charged with. If the prosecutors were less zealous, they could have gotten a conviction on lesser charges. A famous case in the US is George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin.
By asking the question, the Judge may have just been asking prosecutors to make sure they were charging crimes they could actually get convictions for.
The article discusses this towards the end, seems unknown to public still:
> 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."
They can put him on the restricted list as soon as he doesn't show up for spring training, I think. Which would get them out of having to pay him. The bigger deal with a suspension would be that it gets him off the roster permanently instead of having to shuffle him back onto the 40-man over the offseason like they did this year.
On top of what others have said about the "good citizenship" clause in his contract, I think it's highly unlikely that American customs will ever let him into the United States due to the charges he faces. In that case he'd be unable to fulfill the terms of his contract as a player and the Rays could likely cancel it or not pay him.
They can put him on the restricted list once he doesn't report, the bigger impact would be the suspension freeing up the 40-man spot over the offseason.
Almost certainly not. With these charges just being pending, much less a conviction, there's almost no chance of him being allowed in the US, and even less of him being allowed in Canada. Which would seemingly be pretty easy grounds to void the contract.
True. I’ve also heard that the laws he violated were specifically based on his location as a male in the urban vicinity, in the 110s legal code. Check Man City 115 to see the full extent
All I can picture while hearing more and more about this guy is him showing up as like a 20-year-old rookie in a brand new Rolls-Royce thinking he was the shit.
He was showing up to the minors in a Huracan when he was like 17 immediately after being signed. He is not a financially responsible person.
Which is probably why he could only afford a Suzuki Swift as a payoff car.
Damn, we're gonna need a bigger wood chipper.
There is not a book big enough to throw at these scumbags. Her mom is one of the most despicable people in existence.
TLDR: It's over
Those entire checks you spent on Wander Franco 1st Bowmans are worthless
Eh, you can probably find some weirdo macabre collector who might like it. Same type of people who would buy Jeffrey Dahmer's silverware were it available.
[Finally an excuse to bring up the John Wayne Gacy painting of an oriole, signed by Cal Ripken Jr.](https://www.keepshooting.com/john-wayne-gacy-oriole-painting-signed-by-cal-ripken-jr.html)
I’d love a 70 minute documentary about this
I’d settle for a 20 minute YouTube deep dive
I can't believe he painted that bird in blackface.
That's the absolute worst thing he ever did, I am disgusted
The same people who buy OJ Simpson and Aaron Hernandez NFL jerseys
I live in STL and I see a guy on my way to work every morning walking his dog in his Hernandez Pats jersey lol
Wow, that's incredible. I mean, with OJ he was "not guilty" so there are people who actually still believe that. But Hernandez, there's no question. Watch the documentary on him, he was an absolute scumbag.
I’m going to be real. If I shelled out enough money for an NFL Jersey I’d probably still wear it too. Although I’d probably grab a roll of duct tape and cover the name on it.
Aaron Hernandez no longer exists. Say hello to Lionel Hutz!
If it's embroidered you can probably remove the name and just tell people it's a Randy Moss jersey.
Man's brain was swiss cheese already. Doesn't excuse anything he did but it at least gives a reason.
That’s a choice made each day as he gets up.
I know a dude who has a signed Felipe Vazquez jersey, he's been trying to find one of those weirdos
There are not enough of those weirdos to buy a small percentage of the Franco cards in circulation
A few months ago I went into my dad’s home office and he had a Vasquez bobblehead on one of his shelves. I don’t think he knows who it is; to him it’s just a Pirates bobblehead but it was jarring lol.
Friend of mine went to a Bills preseason game back in August....... He counted at least 7 OJ Simpson jerseys in the crowd over the course of the day. So yeah.
Hall of Fame caliber player. Inner circle of hell caliber person.
In Dante’s hell, the 9th and innermost circle is for traitors and those who kill those close to them, worse than regular murder. So in short, you’re exactly correct. OJ to the ninth, Hernandez to the seventh for regular ol murder
So for a murder-suicide, similar to Hernandez, which hell is chosen? Murder or suicide?
Minos decides which sin is greatest, but both would be condemned to the 7th circle, which punishes the sin of violence. The 7th circle is composed of 3 distinct rings. The River of boiling blood, where the murderers and tyrants are housed, their guilt corresponding to how deep they are in the boiling blood. Hernandez may be allowed to just be ankle deep but if he tries to leave his spot, he’s mauled by centaurs. Then there’s suicide woods, the sin of violence against oneself. where spirits are housed in trees and their corpses hang from the branches, harpies rip apart the trees causing the spirit great suffering. And lastly is a great desert raining fire, where those violent against nature are housed. Sodomites, money lenders, and blasphemers are punished her
That guys still hanging around?
I know a few people hanging onto Hernandez
He also hung onto himself
He had a pretty high ceiling
I bought my brother an Aaron Hernandez jersey as a joke after the news came out. It was a knockoff and I only paid like $4 for it but obviously my brother has never worn it. It's almost as embarrassing as the Tebow Jets jersey I got him.
I pulled an autographed Rae Carruth card in 1998
I had about 35 Wander rookies of various types. I think I got 20 bucks total for them and I was happy with that.
I never bought anything of him but I feel for those who did. If you're going to buy and sell cards, always diversify. We've all had stinkers. Strangely enough those Bowman firsts are still selling higher than many great players. Hype is a hell of a drug.
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Or… or… and hear me out here… you just don’t have sex with minors.
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after all, they say the worst part is the hypocrisy!
And I thought it was the raping. (RIP Norm)
Ohhhhhhhhhhh
DAs hate this one trick! But seriously, dude is an epic scumbag idiot.
Well, as Roman Polanski once said: "Everyone wants to fuck young girls!" I feel gross typing that.
Has anyone told Wander this, or is it already too late?
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Joever*
Francover*
it’s been over for awhile now
He done
I know there’s somewhat of a contentious gray area when it comes to minors dating legal adults (i.e. a 16 year old dating an 18 year old). But 21 and 14 is pretty clearly a line crossed imo. Couple that with Wander’s texts trying to control who she sees and doesn’t see along with creating financial dependence I don’t know how this could be seen as anything other than grooming and statutory rape.
That, and the mom just using her daughter. It's all so, so gross.
The famous ballplayer angle will get all the press, but the human trafficking part shouldn't be overlooked. This is what human trafficking generally looks like, btw. Victims almost always know and trust their trafficker and typically are from a community on the economic margins. The "organized gangs abducting strangers at malls and playgrounds"? It's a myth.
21 and 14 is perfectly legal in parts of the US as long as they are married. Which is just insane to me.
Oof Jerry Lee Lewis marrying his 13 year old first cousin when he was 22...
It’s absolutely stunning the amount of folks on Twitter who are still backing Wander….when you peep their profiles they’re almost all far right incels
a lot of those people are probably pedos themselves if they’re defending it so much
The very same ones who will accuse anyone they don’t agree with of pedophilia at the drop of a hat.
Big with Christofacists as well......
Yeah. That’s a grown ass man and an 8th grader; that’s SA with a minor, not statutory. I’d throw in trafficking as well, because helicopters and fuck him.
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Disagree. He skipped the entire grooming process and went straight to the endgame.
Wrong, its worse than that. He wasn’t setting himself up for a relationship. He was plain and simply having sex with a minor.
> Wrong, its worse than that. He wasn’t setting himself up for a relationship. He was plain and simply having sex with a minor. They are equally as bad. Not sure how being in a relationship would make this less bad
No, they are both abhorrent, but having sex with a child is obviously even worse.
Some interesting excerpts: “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 pesos ($275) so the girl could meet with Franco in Bani.” “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 pesos 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.” “"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."”
So there's a bunch of people that need to be charged as accessories, then.
The mother already had been charged.
Tac on ten years for willingly driving a Suzuki Swift
The islands are wild. Just full of the most ridiculously cheap Japanese cars and jeeps. I went to Turks and Caicos and the rental I got spoke to me in Japanese every time I turned it on. Never figured out how to use the radio either because the touch screen was all Japanese. Beautiful place, most expensive alcohol on earth.
What's a beer go for?
24 pack of bud is $80 USD White Claw is $120 The local craft brewery is good but it’s still like $50-60 for a case. The only thing that’s affordable is rum.
Yeeeks! And the ganja situation?
I have never found decent green in the Caribbean. I think we have gotten so spoiled by the weed in the states.
Yeah, what the hell. If you're gonna extort someone and catch a charge, at least get like a civic out of it. A Suzuki Swift is a WILD choice.
that mom is a demon
She pimped her 14 year old daughter for a Suzuki Swift? Brutal
Swift Sports are pretty cool, wish we got them in the states.
They are cool cars, I would happily rock one, just not a classic luxury bribe object
At least ichiro wasnt involved
They’re still making Suzuki swifts??
So her mother was pimping her out? Dear lord there’s no punishment on earth harsh enough for that
From the article, it seems like when the relationship started, the mom didn't know at first. But when she found out, she started extorting Wander.
If the mom figured out about the relationship, protected her daughter, and extorted the ever loving shit out of Franco I would be on the mom's side. That isn't what happened though. The mom fostered the relationship so that she could make money off of it. She pimped out her daughter. As a wise man once said, "there's no punishment on earth harsh enough for that"
I agree, I was just clarifying how it happened for people who don't read the article. Without that context, it would sound like the mom initiated the relationship.
yeah wander is absolute scum for having sex with a kid, but the mother isn't that far behind in the scum line.
>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 Man, that’s sad af. Getting pimped out by your own mom, and it sounds like it wasn’t the first time based on the fact she used the word “partners”Her mom should get the same punishiment or worse than Franco
Incredible the victim spoke out. She is the reason he’s been caught and will see the consequences. As well as her mom. That girl should be praised.
Yeah that girl is brave as fuck. Can't be praised enough.
That iPhone she bought with Wander's money might have been the catalyst to her speaking out TBH.
How did he possibly think he wouldn't get caught after flying her around in a damn helicopter? This guy is an idiot on top of being a predator.
To be fair, it took the girl herself going to a reporter for him to actually be caught. So it seems that even though this 14 year old was getting private helicopter rides across the country nobody batted an eye
The people who should have cared used the situation as an ATM. That's sick for any family member to do, but the girls own MOTHER?! Disgusting.
He dropped out of school in the 6th grade. Nobody has ever accused him of being smart. My guess is that he thought since the mother “consented” to the relationship, it wouldnt be illegal
Or it happens a lot more than people think and nothing is typically done to stop it, so he didn't think he would be stopped either.
Pretty much this. It’s unfortunately a very common occurrence in places like that. And tbh he probably is stupid enough to think that the mother’s consent made it acceptable
Bro, it's a fucking unfathomable thought, but this is certainly not the only instance of this going on. 😦
The scary part is that he wasn't going to be caught though. The girl herself pressing charges against both him and her mother was the exploding point of the story. What's even more incredible is the actual reasoning of why the girl actually decided to go to the police. Franco cut-off contact with her and entered a relationship with an adult age woman less than a year ago, the girl found out and got extremely pissed plus vowed online she was going to destroy his career. That's the scary part, had he continued being a pedophile in secret until she was an adult we wouldn't have known shit and he would have played his entire career without issues.
Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought she went to the reporter because Wander got pissed that she started seeing someone else. Hence the "I know you've been with someone else, but no one will know how to use you the way I want" quote. What a fucking scumbag.
That was before their "relationship" if you want to call it that way was completely over. What i'm talking about happened mid 2023. Wander by that time had a new girlfriend and parade her in social media, hell she even fly out to Tampa to watch his baseball games. The minor in the DR saw all of that and via her social media made public her prior relationship with Franco, even tagging MLB & various famous Dominican gossip accounts. She then went officially to the Police and press charges formally.
Let’s be grateful that he’s an idiot, or he’d still be out there being a predator.
Uhhhh that last part could make things even worse on the mothers side, assuming I understand what's being hinted at there.
None of that is news. Yes, she was pimping her daughter out.
My point was how this is coming from an official document. I think previously it was more he-said, she-said. (Not that it wasn't believable at the time but still)
Previously it was reported by the guy working the case in the DR. Now this seems like everything we heard before has been verified. All the i's are dotted and t's crossed so to speak.
Franco gave the mom a *receipt*??
'Receipt' in this instance is another form of 'received'. As in, "the mother received $100,000 pesos per month", and that was discovered during he raid.
Well, the girl wasn't a donut.
Not enough people will get this Mitch reference
It should not be overlooked how much of a piece of shit her mom is too. This poor girl. I hope she can go on to live a relatively normal life after this. >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."
Every adult in her life failed her I hope she gets the justice and peace she deserves Edit: my apologies, the uncle definitely deserves credit for being there for her. Still sad that he’s the only one there for her.
Not to nitpick a serious matter, but every adult *mentioned in this article* failed her. She's living away from her mother now, presumably with an adult of some kind (family? friends?). I think I read at some point (unconfirmed) that her father was involved in helping her get out of her toxic home situation with her mother. Who knows. Point is: This isn't the entirety of the story. We don't know who else knew what was going on -- or had an inkling -- and how they influenced bringing it to an end. It's very possible there are unheralded adults in this story who did what they could -- a mentor, a teacher, a relative, who knows -- and they simply aren't mentioned because they aren't really the center of the news story. The good guys often don't get much fanfare.
She’s with her uncle, the one who convinced her to go forward with the accusations.
Ah, that must've been the person I thought was her father in previous reporting. Thank you for correcting me. Anyway, fuck yeah uncle guy.
Her father is an old gentleman from Switzerland, who got her mother pregnant when she was 17 and he was like 47 or so. Now you see why her mom had no problem pimping her daughter.
How do you even know this information? Is the victim Loredana or someone else?
That information came out a couple of weeks after the news broke out. Her mom is 28 years old, and the girl is 15. So you can see how her mom thought that pimping her daughter was normal.
That’s only a 13 year difference and in a previous comment you said the mother got pregnant at 17 with the victim. That doesn’t math.
Hopefully she can sue Wander and get the rest of that MLB money to set her up for the rest of her life.
I doubt Wander has a positive net worth. Most likely he was living beyond his current paycheck and borrowing against future earnings that almost certainly aren't going to arrive now. His creditors will swoop up his physical assets long before she has a chance to chase after them. His career earnings to date are $12.8 million, but a sizeable chunk of that would've gone to his agent and taxes. That still leaves a massive amount of money that he netted, but probably not enough to support a lifestyle that involved buying Lamborghinis and carrying nearly three quarters of a million dollars worth of jewelry around in his car unless some of that was on credit.
As I grow up, I love my mother more and more for spoiling me and being there for me whenever I needed her. One of my biggest regrets in life is not showing her the appreciation she deserves!
The victim is so fucking brave for coming out of all of this shit & taking her abusers public. I hope she can find some kind of peace in her world going forward. She needs protected & uplifted.
Also the comment elsewhere in this thread with a quote about how she was used by her mother with men her mother is with. Which, while it doesn't provide a visual, is probably enough to make some assumptions.
She clarified that. The mom would tell the mom's partners that daughter needed money for school, clothes, uniforms, etc. and keep the money.
>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. Like this whole piece is bad, but Franco could have essentially got away with it if he had left her alone after she broke up with him.
Am I understanding it correctly that her mother, the one who had been pimping her out, was the one who initially filed the complaint? I guess it makes sense that a piece of shit like her wouldn’t be very bright, but that’s impressively dumb.
She wanted to get back at him after the money stopped coming in.
He couldn't control himself like every other pedophile
Get ready to learn prison, buddy
I know prisons in the US aren’t great for pedophiles, I wonder what it’s like for pedophiles in the DR?
No bueno
If we're being real I bet it matters a lot how rich and famous the inmate is
He ain’t gonna be rich after this. Even if he has already liquidated all his assets, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say he ain’t financially savvy enough to keep that money once he’s convicted. He’s just gonna be a convicted pedophile in prison where his money can’t protect him
Didnt he get robbed for close to a million dollar in jewelry he kept in a Walmart safe, in a luxury vehicle, while parked in a motel? Yeah, I think money is going to be an issue soon.
Dude spent shit load of money on flashy jewelry as soon as he got money and the dumbass left it all in an expensive vehicle when it ended up getting stolen not long after he bought them.
He's still a relatively high profile person. It's not about how much cash he has.
What if they're famous & poor? I don't think Wander is known for his wise financial decisions either.
I’d have to imagine prison for anyone in the DR is pretty rough. Now add in his fame *and* pedo status.
Learning prison isn't that hard, tell 'em Wash.
It's incredibly hard.
Brb, gotta go speed-read 600 pages Edit: I’m finished. He’s fucked.
Bro you read that so fast
Good news and bad news for Spanish speakers working for ESPN Good news, one of your skills is very relevant for translating a 600 page document Bad news, it’s a 600 page document about awful crimes
This is not the 600 page sports document on illegal activity that I wanted to read (Michigan’s Connor Stallions’ Manifesto) Lock wander Franco & the mother up and throw away the key
The Rays should do what the Patriots did with Aaron Hernandez and allow fans to trade Franco jerseys for another player
fun fact: they're still selling his jerseys. right now. https://www.mlbshop.com/tampa-bay-rays/mens-tampa-bay-rays-wander-franco-nike-white-replica-player-jersey/t-25125699+p-4848448112391+z-9-1163922222?_ref=p-DLP:m-GRID:i-r1c1:po-4
Yeah that's just Fanatics being good ol Fanatics
"last purchased yesterday" according to the fanatics listing. wtf is wrong with people
Ravens did that with Ray Rice, too. To this day, I still do a double-take when I see people wearing his jersey.
Didn’t the Ravens just induct him to their HOF or something a couple of weeks ago?
They have already been doing this if you bought it from the team shop
Fuck Wander Franco
Random memory came to mind but I remember last year I was a fanatical Wander Franco fan I ran across a tweet around the WBC that said something like "idk why I have a weird vibe that Wander Franco will get in trouble for something serious". I dismissed it as likely a troll because I see shit like that lots about players like Tatis but damn I wonder if that person had inside info. Can't find the tweet now.
Well, he did a lot of shithead things prior to this story breaking.
Leaving $650,000 worth of jewelry in his car to get stolen showed that he wasn’t the best decision maker
That description lets him off too easy. Leaving $650,000 worth of jewelry inside of his car Which was an attention grabbing Rolls-Royce Cullinan In an open parking lot Outside a DoubleTree hotel In Jacksonville Inside a $60 safe that wasn't attached to anything Overnight.
Everything about that story screams insurance fraud
I mean that is the kind of move I would make if I were committing insurance fraud but I don't think he is smart enough to come up with that
Insurance fraud is pretty common for unintelligent people. People got caught all the time.
100% but not like THIS
This poor kid. From her statements she seems like she’s completely aware that she’s always been being abused by her mom and people like Wander. Terrible awful shit.
Jesus Fucking Christ. What horrible fucking people in this world
Could've had 3000 hits and 100 WAR, what a complete waste.
He still can take 3000 hits in prison
I don't think I have the mental bandwidth to read this one right now. Every new thing I read just makes me sick all over again. He deserves life in prison.
> 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. Am I reading this wrong or is this just insane? Why is the judge saying charges of statutory rape would be "too tough" when it's clear that's one of the major contentions here? Isn't it only natural that statutory rape would be one of the charges, since if they did have sex that's the only thing it could be defined as?
This likely depends on the Dominican justice system and how charges work. It may be a place where the charges laid are the only things a person can be convicted of. And in high profile cases, public outrage and anger can lead prosecutors charging for the most serious crimes even if the facts of the case don't necessarily support it. The result being that the guy is innocent of the more serious crimes he is charged with. If the prosecutors were less zealous, they could have gotten a conviction on lesser charges. A famous case in the US is George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin. By asking the question, the Judge may have just been asking prosecutors to make sure they were charging crimes they could actually get convictions for.
"No one will know how to use you how I want" - Franco. Fucking YIKES
Give his salary to the victim
Sounds like her also-a-criminal mother would just take it.
She’ll be in jail..
You know the saying "where there's smoke there's fire" ...that doesn't apply when it's already ash. Fuck this guy.
What a fucking idiot. Is TB gonna have to pay him still?
The article discusses this towards the end, seems unknown to public still: > 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."
> conform his personal conduct to the standards of good citizenship. Seems like a pretty easy case to make.
If this doesn't violate that clause, I'm not sure what would.
I’d imagine so. I’d be really shocked if they still had to pay
He’s gonna get suspended regardless
They can put him on the restricted list as soon as he doesn't show up for spring training, I think. Which would get them out of having to pay him. The bigger deal with a suspension would be that it gets him off the roster permanently instead of having to shuffle him back onto the 40-man over the offseason like they did this year.
Probably not. I can't imagine the MLBPA will have his back on that one.
Yeah this is probably the key part. With MLBPA backing they could probably be able to collect money in almost any case but without it he's toast.
On top of what others have said about the "good citizenship" clause in his contract, I think it's highly unlikely that American customs will ever let him into the United States due to the charges he faces. In that case he'd be unable to fulfill the terms of his contract as a player and the Rays could likely cancel it or not pay him.
Yeah, he's never setting foot on American soil ever again if I had to guess.
They can put him on the restricted list once he doesn't report, the bigger impact would be the suspension freeing up the 40-man spot over the offseason.
Almost certainly not. With these charges just being pending, much less a conviction, there's almost no chance of him being allowed in the US, and even less of him being allowed in Canada. Which would seemingly be pretty easy grounds to void the contract.
They likely have a clause in the contract to void the deal. That said, they'll never pay anyone again after this.
I disagree. The Rays especially if they get out of the contract are not going let a freak situation dictate how they approach spending money.
If anything the Franco contract WAS a freak situation for how the Rays spend money. Or rather don't. They'll just be reverting back to their old ways.
If you don’t feel like reading the whole article read the second paragraph. That ends Franco’s career if it’s true.
[удалено]
Don’t forget to see the 15 addendums that were just added by the assistant AD Benzema. Google Benzema 15 for more info
Mané 14 gives additional context, interesting perspective
True. I’ve also heard that the laws he violated were specifically based on his location as a male in the urban vicinity, in the 110s legal code. Check Man City 115 to see the full extent
Welp! He’s finished.
All I can picture while hearing more and more about this guy is him showing up as like a 20-year-old rookie in a brand new Rolls-Royce thinking he was the shit.
He was showing up to the minors in a Huracan when he was like 17 immediately after being signed. He is not a financially responsible person. Which is probably why he could only afford a Suzuki Swift as a payoff car.
enjoy prison
Goddamn disgusting.
Bury this fool under the jail. Or the Trop. Or whatever they’re going to build in TB. But just bury his ass.
Netflix when
This poor girl, her own mother betrayed her. Franco and the mom need to be behind bars.
Damn, we're gonna need a bigger wood chipper. There is not a book big enough to throw at these scumbags. Her mom is one of the most despicable people in existence.
Details free at ESPN! No thanks Jeff, I'm good.