Wander Franco Is In Trouble (Grooming/Pedo Warning)
- Thread starter Wingack
- Start date
Yeah, this is immediately what I thought too. Yokohama can sign him to play behind Bauer for the All-Sexual Assault BayStars.
Perhaps so, though it would weaken the underlying point, imo. The full idea (as I read it) was to characterize that basic defense in terms that insult and belittle those that would use it. But keep white-knighting, I guess.
Trevor Bauer is pitching there currently, and they just don't care. My wife has been in the US for a couple of decades now, but she was telling me that with this kind of scandal, if it happened in Japan, not only is it unlikely anyone would be punished, but the girl/s themselves could easily end up bearing the brunt of public reaction. Not too different from the US a while back, you saw the Luis Polonia story linked above.
Up until 2 months ago, age of consent has been 13 there.
https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/npr-news/npr-news/2023-06-17/japan-expands-the-definition-of-rape-and-raises-the-age-of-consent-to-16-from-13
Just to confirm - you'd prefer for several teenage girls to be raped just so you're talking points are easier?
I guess you gotta crack some eggs to make an omelette...
The key with Bauer is that a) he wasn't convicted of anything and b) the accusations didn't actually happen here. There is some degree of willful ignorance where most fans don't bother to find out why a given player of a certain caliber is now here, and yeah, many of those that do just don't care. With players of a lesser caliber like Josh Lueke or Roberto Osuna, most fans here will never know their legal histories.
That said, I don't think I entirely agree with Jon's wife. No doubt what she describes has happened in the past and may still happen, but she will perhaps be heartened to know that Hotaka Yamakawa -- a superstar who was part of the Championship WBC team -- is unlikely to ever play for the Seibu Lions again, even if he is found not guilty of the rape charges filed against him in May. The case is still pending but he hasn't played since the charges were filed.
Yomiuri Giants SS Hayato Sakamoto, the best offensive shortstop here for years, was shunned for this year's WBC team because he was embroiled in some off-field scandal where he more or less forced his gf to have an abortion. I don't think there are any legal charges current or pending in that whole mess but the events themselves did have consequences for him.
This is irrelevant to the discussion at hand, imho.
I think the point being made here is that if she's 14 years old and the age of consent in Japan is 13, Japanese fans won't find it as repulsive as Americans as she'd be "legal" there.
Just my two yen but I think there's very little correlation, if any, between what the law said and what people find repulsive.
Yea I find this whole line of thinking weird. Without going into V&N territory, there’s plenty of laws in certain states that the population of that state finds repulsive. Public opinion doesn’t move in line with legislation
this has been a really weird case in that it’s a celebrity but we don’t immediately know what happened, or even how many accusers there are. @canderson mentioned it, but the reports of more minors and more people involved lead me to believe there’s sex trafficking involved. Franco may not be involved in that, he may just be the reason it’s being investigated, but that’s how it seems to be trending. I know next to nothing about the DR legal system. Would it normally take this long to get any details if it were a straightforward statutory rape case?
Granted, this is a foreign country so it's going to be different than in the US, but I think all the television procedurals and movies have warped our sense of what sort of timeframe investigations and legal proceedings actually take place in. It's been five days since the rumors started to surface. I don't think it's unreasonable to think that even a "straightforward" case won't have a lot of details ready for public consumption in less than a week's time. It's too soon to infer much of anything about the case.
I agree it’s too soon in this case. But think about the tyreek hill case. He was never charged but it was obvious very quickly that he was guilty of the accusation. This case is weird because it’s like, I think Wander is guilty of “something”. There’s so much smoke that I think there must be fire but it’s so weird how we don’t even know if it’s just him with a kid, or him as part of a sex trafficking ring, or him as a victim of extortion.
To clarify, I think the lack of specific details are weird. Don’t want my previous post to come off badly, I just find this case weird in that everyone agrees there’s something there but we aren’t being given any details
I think the main reason we all believe there's something there without a lot of details about what it might be is that MLB immediately put him on the restricted list and Franco isn't fighting it in any way. That alone suggests something is up.
Like I said, I don't think the lack of details five days removed from the first inkling of a rumor is that weird. The police, especially one in a foreign country, doesn't really owe the media anything as they conduct their investigation. My guess is the next significant update to the story is either going to be an arrest or an exoneration. Nothing in between.
His kid went to the emergency room with a broken arm and then was taken from the home by CPS. I don't remember the exact timeline of what we (fans) might have known when, but from what I found on wikipedia about the incident, the initial news report about the investigation was on March 15, 2019. It wasn't until April 24, 2019 that the police made a statement that their investigation was inconclusive (a crime was committed but they couldn't determine by whom) but continuing. That's at least five weeks of investigation. We're on day 6 of the Franco saga.
I believe the social media posts came out a few days ago, but didn’t one of the Gómez tweets above say Dominican authorities were investigating a complaint from a 17 year old filed July 17?
The social media posting surrounding the first alleged victim was basically that she had a sexual relationship with Wander when she was under-age. (Which she may or may not be now.)
The media reports are that a second underage alleged victim has contacted the authorities who investigate minor abuse, etc. and has also accused Wander of something. It could be a physical battery from a party-fight but what are the odds that it's also some kind of sexual misconduct? I would guess high.
So, if we have two underage victims, it's not surprising there's not a lot of public reporting on this.
RHF's point also carries a lot of weight.
If there was a credible counter-allegation here that the family was just trying to extort him only over ambiguous-looking photos, I'm not sure that agreeing to go on the restricted list is the right move. (If he really had any choice about it.)
It suggests something messier. Maybe resolvable in some way, but not something in the realm of clear denial.
Yea I’m not trying to suggest anything, just that this scandal has been unlike any other in my lifetime in terms of rollout of info. Like the smoke to fire ratio is crazy, right? I expect to get more info but this is the longest I’ve ever had to wait from accusation to confirmation. Maybe I’m just young and some of you absurdly old people disagree
It takes a little while to warm up the mimeograph. Just be patient. Maybe have an ensure while you're waiting.
Franco immediately denied the allegations in an Instagram post.
There’s not enough reliable information about this for me to form an opinion either way. But MLB doing the right thing, suspending Franco pending investigation, and Franco accepting that suspension isn’t evidence that he’s guilty.
First of all, it involves minors. Second, it's in another country. Third, it isn't unlike any other in your lifetime - compare it to Matt Ariza, whose sexual assault accusations didn't really hit national news for about a year after it occurred: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-08-25/nfl-matt-araiza-sdsu-football-players-accused-rape-lawsuit.
I feel like it's the worst thing for everyone involved if half-baked stuff gets out into the interweb so hopefully everyone is being deliberate in the interests of justice.
I am going to say something really ugly.
The Dominican Republic has been known to be a place where underage sex is sold. Not everywhere but it exists. I have seen it (I once walked out of my hotel and on the way to get some bottled waters and stuff two girls approached me. I said no and their immediate reply was "I got ID!" in english because I look like a tourist I guess). That being the point, it is quirte possible that someone is either blackmailing him or something and that's how everything came out. Not an excuse, he did wrong if indeed he did this, just that it is a possible explanation on how the story exploded.
One is bad enough. But the fact there's a decent chance it could be multiple victims is revolting. GirlS.
Doesn't look good indeed.
Innocent until proven guilty, etc.
Doesn't look good indeed.
Innocent until proven guilty, etc.
The leave is open-ended too. How long it lasts is entirely dependent on what happens with the investigation. If it takes two years to investigate, he's gone for two years. Can't imagine it will take that long, but it shows there's no real timetable. Just a quest for justice, one way or another.
View: https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/1694009687878803803
View: https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/1694009687878803803
Did Big Ben pay off the victim? I remember an ESPN morning person (possibly Mike Greenberg) relaying the DA’s comments of frustration at not having enough evidence to charge and just browbeating Ben to death. Though my memory is fuzzy.
At least one reputable DR media source says that he might never play again:
https://x.com/hgomez27/status/1694130630559203504?s=46&t=tm64lLj_CJh_1TJTaHp3hA
https://x.com/hgomez27/status/1694130630559203504?s=46&t=tm64lLj_CJh_1TJTaHp3hA
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That link for those who no longer interact with Musk-land:
"SOURCE: Other cases of Franco's alleged relationships with underage girls are being investigated, both by MLB and by the Dominican authorities. These cases have been recently reported."-Héctor Gómez
"SOURCE: Other cases of Franco's alleged relationships with underage girls are being investigated, both by MLB and by the Dominican authorities. These cases have been recently reported."-Héctor Gómez
Yes, digging deeper into the Twitter links we get to;
View: https://twitter.com/AlertasMundial/status/1691253043025620992?s=20
| #URGENTE • La Procuraduría General de la República Dominicana dice que existe una querella de una menor contra pelotero Wander Franco El organismo dice es otra joven, no la de las redes sociales; investigan hecho.
URGENT: The Attorney General's Office of the Dominican Republican says that there is a charge by a minor vs baseball player Wander Franco. The Office says this is another young lady, not the one from social media. Investigation going on.
https://twitter.com/AlertasMundial/status/1691253043025620992/photo/1
I know it's not your intent to minimize anything, but what he might lose is beyond secondary to what he has allegedly done and the victims thereof.
Agreed, I read the plural as still being the two known cases, the original girl in the social media posts and the 17 year old who filed a complaint in the DR a month before the pictures came out. Wouldn’t be shocked if there are/will be more, but the Gómez tweet still reads like two for now.
It goes without saying that the victims are the biggest concern. I didn't think I needed to say that, but I get what you're saying.
It’s not just a shame in every sense but what makes it compelling is how someone arrives at what he did. With his fame, money, etc he most assuredly did not suffer from lack of attention from the opposite sex.
it’s like if I went into Alinea with a ten million dollar gift certificate and decided to beat the shit out of a homeless dude for his nature’s valley granola bar instead.
it’s like if I went into Alinea with a ten million dollar gift certificate and decided to beat the shit out of a homeless dude for his nature’s valley granola bar instead.
The situation you describe wouldn't be about you being hungry. It would be you asserting control and dominance over the homeless guy for its own sake.
Plus we have to consider the timeline of when it happened. Nothing is an excuse for what he did. but it's a different thought process.
But yeas, sometimes it is about control and certain sick instincts rather than attraction.
Agree that we don't know for sure. My point is that what he is accused for is horrible regardless of whether he was poor or rich or whether he is being blackmailed.
And although this proves nothing, he has yet to issue any kind of statement that denies wrongdoing.
Apologies for phrasing.