SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco will go to trial on charges that he sexually abused a minor, a judge in the Dominican Republic said on Thursday.
After an investigation that lasted over a year, judge Pascual Valenzuela of the northern province of Puerto Plata ruled that the evidence presented by the prosecutors was worthy of the case moving to trial.
No date has been set for the trial, which will be handled by a panel of judges. In the Dominican Republic, there are no jury trials.
Franco has been charged with sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl. Prosecutors filed multiple charges against Franco six months after a judge ordered that he be investigated in connection with alleged sexual and psychological abuse of the girl.
Franco, who has refused to speak to the media, attended the hearing that lasted five hours and said after that “everything is in God’s hands.”
Teodosio Jáquez,…