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Dominican Court Revokes Franco's Pardon in Sex Abuse Case
Confirmed
In Short: An appeals court in the Dominican Republic has revoked Wander Franco's pardon and upheld his conviction for sexual and psychological abuse of a minor.
An appeals court in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, revoked Wander Franco's judicial pardon and upheld his conviction for sexual and psychological abuse of a minor on Thursday, October 29, 2026.
The court ruled in favor of the prosecution, essentially upholding Franco's previous conviction, with a suspended three-year prison sentence. Franco, who was arrested in January 2024, was accused of having a four-month relationship with a 14-year-old girl and transferring thousands of dollars to her mother.
The court also imposed additional restrictions, including forfeiture of approximately 2.1 million Dominican pesos (£25,900) and limitations on contact with the victim and places she frequents.
Franco, now 25, was originally convicted in June 2025 and had been granted a pardon by a lower court. However, the Dominican Public Prosecutor's Office argued that the pardon rested on an erroneous interpretation of legal provisions intended only for exceptional circumstances.
The appeals court upheld a 10-year prison sentence for the mother, who was found guilty of commercial sexual exploitation and money laundering.
Franco's defense team objected to the motion, but the appellate court ruled in favor of the prosecution, maintaining that the conditions for the pardon did not apply to Franco's case.
The court on Thursday imposed the conditional terms considering Franco's age and to support his eventual reintegration into society. Franco will not be required to serve time in custody provided he maintains a fixed residence and remains under judicial supervision.
Franco, once the Tampa Bay Rays' star shortstop, signed a $182 million, 11-year contract in November 2021 but saw his career abruptly halted in August 2023 after authorities in the Dominican Republic announced they were investigating him for an alleged relationship with a minor.
Franco can appeal to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Dominican Republic.
The case highlights the complexities of legal proceedings and the impact of international sports figures on national justice systems.
What's confirmed
- The court upheld a 10-year prison sentence for the mother, who was found guilty of commercial sexual exploitation and money laundering.
- Franco, now 25, was originally convicted in June of 2025.
- The Dominican Public Prosecutor's Office argued that the lower court's original pardon rested on an erroneous interpretation of legal provisions intended only for exceptional circumstances — conditions that prosecutors maintained do not apply to Franco's case.
- Franco was found guilty of sexual and psychological abuse of a minor and given a three-year suspended sentence.
- FILE - Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco reacts at the end of his trial on charges of sexually abusing a minor, in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, May 25, 2026.
- Franco can appeal to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Dominican Republic.
- An appeals court in the Dominican Republic has revoked a judicial pardon for Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Wander Franco.
What's still developing
- According to AP's account of the proceedings, the funds came from Franco in exchange for her consent to the relationship with her daughter.
- Dover schools participated in Red Ribbon Week this week, joining schools across the nation in raising awareness of the dangers of drug abuse and encouraging students to make healthy choices.
- The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to revive a major immigration fight over whether criminal aliens can be held without bond throughout removal proceedings or are entitled to a hearing when their detention drags on.
- "They would switch out attorneys. They would make frivolous filings regarding asylum, regarding withholding of removal. They would ask for delays and continuances upon delays and continuances," Mizelle said.
- "But they're asking for more time on different things, but then at the same time complaining that the whole process is taking too long."
- "The biggest issue that happens here is gamemanship," Chad Mizelle, chair of litigation at the America First Policy Institute and a former acting associate attorney general, told Fox News Digital.
- "Rather than making the court go through those motions, you just hear this case now, hear this case directly, even before the Second Circuit has had the opportunity to rule," Morley told Fox News Digital.
- "So the rights of these criminal aliens who were being detained, whether or not they're entitled to a bond hearing as of right now depends on which jurisdiction they happen to fall in," Michael Morley, a Florida State University law professor, told Fox News Digital.
- "This is a question that the [Supreme Court] itself went out of its way, you can say, to leave open for adjudication in a future case," Morley said.
- "And so the government is asking the Supreme Court to set one uniform interpretation for the entire country." The Trump administration's petition is procedurally unusual because Genalo v.
- "A lot of times these aliens will file multiple applications for asylum, withholding removal. They'll get new attorneys, switch out attorneys, ask for continuances, ask for delays," Mizelle said.
- At the center of the dispute is D.C., a Dominican national who is facing removal after a criminal history that includes drug trafficking and domestic violence charges.