Dominican authorities opened an investigation into allegations that Minnesota Twins slugger Miguel Sano was involved in a kidnapping of a man, prosecutors said Thursday.
However, the Twins indicated that Sanó was exonerated from the charges.
Sanó, who in January signed a three-year, $ 30 million contract with the Twins, denies the allegations and has been said to be a victim of blackmail.
The player appeared Thursday before the Prosecutor’s Office in San Pedro de Macorís, his hometown. The hearing was called for the parties to present their versions and a conciliation will be sought, but the latter was not possible.
Faced with the non-conciliation, the Dominican justice will initiate an investigation, where if evidence is found to link Sanó with what he is accused of, he would be ordered to hear a measure of coercion or the complaint would be dismissed, the Prosecutor’s Office indicated.
No formal charges have been filed.
“My lawyers take care of that, I don’t know, they are what they know, I don’t know about that,” Sanó told The Associated Press when asked a question about the accusations against him and the process that follows him as he left the offices where He was meeting for more than an hour with the representatives of the alleged victim.
The Twins’ executive vice president of sports operations Derek Falvey said the organization was notified Thursday morning that Sanó had been exonerated from the allegations by Dominican authorities, and would not face any criminal charges.
Fred Guerrero, the team’s international scouting director and who has known Sanó since he was a teenager, was the Twins’ main point of contact with the player. The 27-year-old first baseman insisted that he has not committed crimes.
“We believe in Miguel’s word, and we wanted to wait and see what else turned out. In the end today everything coincided with what he had told us, what we expected to happen here, “said Falvey.
It was not immediately possible to clarify the apparent discrepancy in the versions.
Raudy Omar Sánchez De La Cruz’s lawyers claim to have sufficient evidence and testimony that Sanó and three of his friends kidnapped, beat and threatened to hang that man.
They investigate the great league Miguel Sanó for allegedly participating in a kidnapping in the Dominican Republic https://t.co/4nlUkg2gkH
– Noticia al Día (@noticiaaldia) June 26, 2020
The actions of which Sanó are accused are typified in the Dominican penal code as an association of criminals, a charge for which his accusers have sued, in addition to attempted murder.
In civil matters, the plaintiffs consider that the young Sánchez de la Cruz has been caused moral and material damages, evaluated for the sum of $ 170,000.
Sanó, 27, has denied the accusations and assured that Sánchez de la Cruz is involved in a case of sexual abuse of a young relative of the player. No charges have been filed on those allegations.
Sanó will go on to play as first baseman in the 2020 season, which should kick off next month after being delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Elected to the All-Star Game in 2017, Sano bounced back from a poor campaign in 2018. He hit a homer cap with 34 in just 105 games last year. He also set his best OPS figures, with a .923 in 2019. He went from less to more after suffering a cut to the foot while celebrating the coronation of his team in the Dominican Winter League.
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