Wander Franco Receiving 2 Years of Suspended Sentence in S**ual Abuse Case of Minor Triggers Wild Reactions on Social Media: “This Is Ridiculous”

Wander Franco was handed a 2-year suspended sentence after being found guilty in the s**ual abuse case of a minor.

Wander Franco Receiving 2 Years of Suspended Sentence in S**ual Abuse Case of Minor Triggers Wild Reactions on Social Media: “This Is Ridiculous”

Wander Franco (Image via Imago)

On Thursday, a court in the Dominican Republic handed a 2-year suspended sentence to Wander Franco in the s**ual abuse case of a minor. This announcement trigged some wild reaction from social media users as many of them were left angry.

Franco, the suspended Tampa Bay Rays, was facing charges of s**ual abuse, s**ual exploitation, and human trafficking. The 2023 MLB All-Star kept on denying this allegations and expressed that he was innocent.

In a ruling on Thursday, the Puerto Plata Collegiate Court found the 24-year-old guilty of s**ually abusing a minor and having an illegal relationship with her. He would avoid prison time though as the court handed him a 2-year suspended sentence.

There are some orders regarding this sentence, though. The biggest one of them for Franco is not to approach any minor with s**ual intentions. If he is found to be breaking this, he will have to serve his sentence.

The charges against Franco were leveled after a social media post went viral in August 2023. The post alleged that he was in a relationship with a 14-year-old girl from December 2022. He would deny these allegations. The MLB would later place him on administrative leave. Since then, Franco has been away from the baseball field.

Social media reacts to Wander Franco being found guilty in s**ual abuse case of minor

Around 22 months after the allegations first came out, Wander Franco was found guilty of s**ually abusing a minor girl. The Dominican Republic international was given a 2-year suspended sentence by the court.

Wander Franco
Wander Franco (Image via Toronto Star)

This ruling was something that did not sit well with the social media users. After the news of his sentence came out, many of them expressed their frustration as they demanded a harsher punishment for him. One user wrote, “This is ridiculous” while making their feeling known.

Check out that and some other reaction from social media regarding this:

Apart from Franco, the mother of the victim was also found guilty. She was handed a 10-year imprisonment sentence for s**ually trafficking her daughter. In a raid during her home by the authorities, huge sums of money was recovered which was allegedly delivered by the MLB star to consent for their relationship.

Wander Franco’s MLB career almost over following guilty sentence

On Thursday, a Dominican Republic court handed a guilty sentence to Wander Franco in the minor s**ual abuse case. With this 2-year sentence, his MLB career is almost certainly over.

Wander Franco
Wander Franco (Image via CNN)

Franco is currently on the restricted list without pay for failure to report to the team. This is because he does not have a work visa at the moment.

As per ESPN insider Jeff Passan, it will be difficult for the shortstop to acquire a work visa in the United States after this court ruling. If he is unable to acquire a visa, he would be unable to continue his career in the MLB.

Even if Franco is able to attain a visa in the future, there are chances that the Rays will void the remaining $133 million in his contract. In 2021, he had signed a historic 11-year, $182 million contract extension with the team.

Prior to him being placed on administrative leave, Franco was in fine form. He was named as an All-Star in the 2023 season and batted with a .281 average through 112 games with 17 home runs and 58 RBI.

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