As RR points out, in such cases, it is often "he said" versus "she said", and this often is insufficient legal proof for the allegations.
While this is generally true, I wasn't making that point upthread, nor opining on the strength of the case against Franco (there are no publicly reported facts to make reasonable guesses off of.)
I was pointing out that the fact and evidence gathering for this sort of crime normally happens very rapidly. For example, if they texted each other nude pics, the victim normally has them. But it's not like the cops need to retrace his possible steps and pull hours of random security footage to try to get an ID or something.
Franco won't be able to make any distinctions about this being consensual, but I would expect him to deny it happened, which Bauer couldn't.
We really don't know what the evidence is at this point, or even what the allegations are.
Whether there could be some other "bar" he fails to clear in the court of public opinion that might still make MLB want to ban him is what I am really wondering.
Again, we just don't know, as it really depends on the facts. If this is something that would be legal in under a Romeo/Juliet scheme in some jurisdictions, there's probably not going to be an enormous social outcry, absent allegations of violence or the like. If the ages are fairly far apart, or there are multiple underage victims, he's most likely just as sunk as Bauer is.