Wander Franco was found guilty of sexual and psychological exploitation of a minor in the Dominican Republic, but the former Rays infielder will not serve any jail time, while the victim’s mother is looking at a 10-year prison sentence.
The ruling, which came down from a three-person judicial panel, concluded that Franco was both defendant and victim in the case, and it led them to grant him a judicial pardon despite finding him guilty.
“In this case, the court has considered not only the conduct regarding an anomalous or abnormal relationship between the defendant and a minor, but also that the defendant in this specific case is also a victim. A victim of rapacious human behavior, which forgets principles and values and, once the problem arises, tries to profit from it at the expense of the very dignity of the one who should have been protected,” Judge José Ramón Núñez said while announcing the verdict, Dominican newspaper Listín Diario reported.
Franco was found guilty in the case back in June 2025, but both the prosecution and the ballplayer’s legal team appealed and a new trial was ordered.
The full sentencing will be made on June 16 and Monday’s verdict can also be appealed.
The mother of the minor with whom Franco had an illegal relationship, starting when the girl was 14 and Franco was 21, was given a 10-year sentence for money laundering, among other charges. The sentencing was similar to what she had been given during the first trial.
Judge Núñez said in court that “the facts have spoken and created the evidence to place you in the scenario you find yourself in” when addressing the charges related to the minor’s mother.
Núñez, along with judges Jenny Amarilis Martínez and Praire Ruiz, made up the panel that ruled in the new trial.
Franco briefly addressed reporters as he walked out of court in the province of Puerto Plata and thanked God and his family for their support throughout the proceedings, according to a social media post by Listín Diario.
The verdict further prohibits any hope for Franco of returning to Major League Baseball, where he was once viewed as a rising star with the Rays, by potentially making it difficult to obtain the needed visa to work in the United States.
That‘s on top of the potential discipline Franco could be facing for MLB, which opened its own investigation into the disturbing situation.
In a statement to the Tampa Bay Times, Major League Baseball said that it was “aware of today’s verdict in the Wander Franco trial and will conclude our investigation at the appropriate time.”
If Franco cannot get the needed visa to report to play, the Rays would be off the hook for the remaining $160 left on his $182 million, 11-year contract he inked in late 2021.
Allegations against Franco first surfaced on Aug. 13, 2023, when posts on social media began going viral.
Franco was put on administrative leave originally, but after charges were filed against him in July 2024, he was moved to the MLB’s restricted list, which prevented the Rays from having to pay him.
A Dominican court found him guilty last year and handed him a two-year suspended sentence along with a fine, but both sides ended up appealing the ruling.
Prosecutors were looking to have Franco serve five years behind bars.
A new trial was ordered in December and got underway earlier this month after several delays.
