SAN JUAN DE LA MAGUANA, Dominican Republic (AP) — Wander Franco, the Tampa Bay Rays shortstop who awaits trial in a sexual abuse case, was granted supervised release Wednesday after being arrested and charged for illegally carrying a gun in his vehicle during an altercation in a parking lot in the Dominican Republic.
Dominican judge Viamerca Ruiz said Franco needs to report to court once a month while he is being investigated for carrying the firearm that was registered under his uncle’s name.
Franco, 23, was arrested Sunday after an argument broke out in a San Juan de la Maguana apartment complex parking lot. Another man and a woman also were detained in the confrontation. Two firearms were seized, police said.
“The gun has a license. … so there’s nothing illegal about it,” said Antonio Garcia Lorenzo, one of Franco’s lawyers. “We are asking for his release, pure and simple as that. They have already investigated the weapon, and it is not his, it has its owner.”
The attorney also said Franco was in San Juan de la Maguana “just to visit.”
A conviction for illegally possessing a firearm could call for a three- to five-year prison sentence.
Franco is scheduled to go to trial Dec. 12 in the northern province of Puerto Plata in a sexual abuse case involving a 14-year-old girl. He was also charged with sexual and commercial exploitation against a minor and human trafficking.
Franco was conditionally released Jan. 5, four days after his arrest on the abuse allegations.
Franco, who has refused to speak to the media, has said about the sexual abuse case: “Everything is in God’s hands.”
Franco was in his third major league season when his career was halted in August 2023. He agreed to an 11-year, $182 million contract in November 2021.
Tampa Bay placed him on the restricted list on July 10, cutting off the pay he had been receiving while on administrative leave.
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