Miguel Sano Denies Kidnapping Allegation, States He's Being Blackmailed

[Tom Froemming]

William Aish, sports editor for El Nuevo Diario, Tweeted last night about a complicated situation involving Miguel Sano. Here's Hector Gomez, another Spanish-language sports reporter, providing a translation:

 

 

This is a developing story. Per Aish's original report, there will be a press conference later today.

 

[Tom Froemming]

Here's a link to Aish's full report, which is in Spanish. Keep in mind that Google translate isn't always the most reliable thing, but here's how the first couple paragraphs of Aish's article translates to English:

 

"The player of the Minnesota Twins, Miguel Ángel Sanó, has been accused of alleged kidnapping and beating up young Raudy Omar Sánchez de la Cruz.

 

The attorney in charge of the case, Odalis Ramos, reported through a video published on the social networks of the communicator from San Pedro de Macorís, AbelQuezada.com, that Sanó and the calls (Billy, Chino and Tintin), kidnapped his client last 6 May, where the Major League Baseball player also wanted to hang him, allegedly alleging that Sánchez de la Cruz was involved in a rape of one of his brothers."

[John Bonnes]

I'd encourage people in this thread to tread very carefully in discussing what we know and what we think we know. There is a lot that is yet to be discovered on this story.  

[Ted Schwerzler]

What goes on in the Dominican Republic is certainly something else. I remember Wilson Ramos' kidnapping years ago, and there's plenty of talk about how dangerous even driving in with road conditions and then additional factors. Would imagine there's some truth to something here, but would lean that it's probably not on Sano in being wrong.

[Vanimal46]

Maybe it’s time for Sano to consider not going back home to the DR, as sad as that sounds. Strange things continue to happen to him when he is back in his home country.

[Puckett34]

Regardless of what happened or didn't happen. This off-season sucks.

[jjswol]

Where there is smoke does not necessarily mean there is fire. But, there always seems to be strange stories swirling around Miguel Sano. It is worrisome.

[Doctor Gast]

I will tend to continue to believe Sano but I`d recommend to him to be careful where & w/ who hangs out especially now when he has a lot of unsupervised time on his hands. DR is a potentially dangerous place, just ask Ortiz.

[Diesel]

If Sano’s brother did get sexually assaulted by this man, I honestly don’t care what Miguel did to him. Child molesters are stains on this Earth. As sad as it sounds, I think he needs to get his family out of the DR

[gunnarthor]

 

What goes on in the Dominican Republic is certainly something else. I remember Wilson Ramos' kidnapping years ago, and there's plenty of talk about how dangerous even driving in with road conditions and then additional factors. Would imagine there's some truth to something here, but would lean that it's probably not on Sano in being wrong.

Ramos was in Venezuela, not the DR.

[TFRazor]

Yeah... I've got nothing. Is this actual real life? Everything is just surreal.

[TFRazor]

 

 

I will tend to continue to believe Sano but I`d recommend to him to be careful where & w/ who hangs out especially now when he has a lot of unsupervised time on his hands. DR is a potentially dangerous place, just ask Ortiz.

 

Didn't it eventually turn out that Papi wasn't even the target and he was confused for someone else? Or am I making that up in my head for some reason? Seems like stories like this have more twists and turns than a Tarantino movie.

[Paul]

I'm just glad Sano restrained himself.

[bighat]

So Sano kidnapped a guy he thinks was involved in a horrendous crime, beat him up and threatened to hang him....but he got the wrong guy? Or at least the victim's lawyer is saying that?

 

Yeesh. Let's hope all parts of this story are untrue.

[Shaitan]

 

Maybe it’s time for Sano to consider not going back home to the DR, as sad as that sounds. Strange things continue to happen to him when he is back in his home country.

 

I have no idea how baseball visas work, but that may not be his choice.

[Vanimal46]

 

I have no idea how baseball visas work, but that may not be his choice.

 

Good call out. I don't know how they work either, but you're probably right that it's not his choice to travel back to the DR. 

[Ted Schwerzler]

 

Ramos was in Venezuela, not the DR.

Good call, but I think quite a few of the parallels in these situations run similar.

[TFRazor]

 

Good call out. I don't know how they work either, but you're probably right that it's not his choice to travel back to the DR. 

I would imagine players from other countries would need work visas. Not sure if there's a special one for baseball players. I pulled this from the State Department website just in case anyone was curious.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/employment/temporary-worker-visas.html

 

I would imagine that ball players would fall under the "O" Category. It's for "Individual with Extraordinary Ability or Achievement".

[Richie the Rally Goat]

I'm not sure how to keep this to OP, other than work visa is definitely not to OP.... Please refrain from continuing hte visa discussion in this thread

[Doubles]

How many “situations” does this make for Sano now? Seems it’s one thing after another with this guy.

[Tom Froemming]

Héctor Gómez passed along that the press conference has been cancelled by Sano.

 

[Number3]

So lets get this straight. Someone allegedly assaults Sano's brother and then wants to blackmail Sano after he has committed the assault? So apart from everything else, the story makes no logical sense.

At least this season it makes no difference whether Sano can play or not. Most games will be played like exhibitions anyway if there are any games.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Please do not let this Sano story go off on a broader tangent —thanks everyone.

[Trov]

It sounds like Sano is still in DR.  I wonder if this will affect his visa coming back to US for season, assuming there is one.  I also wonder if Twins will hold off on him playing until more questions are answered by authorities.  

[nicksaviking]

***Moderator Note***

 

This thread needs to stay on topic, and that topic is Miguel Sano and this still fairly vague ordeal. I understand there tends to be an urge to pick sides when the situation is sensitive, but we don't even have a clear view of what the situation is.

[drivlikejehu]

I was just glad to see that the alleged victim was a male. 

[Nine of twelve]

 

If Sano’s brother did get sexually assaulted by this man, I honestly don’t care what Miguel did to him. 

This comment makes me feel very uneasy.

[Tom Froemming]

 

The alleged victim is a child. This allegation is unspeakable regardless of gender.

I don't believe this is true, but this is all a bit difficult to follow. The man who was kidnapped, assaulted and threatened was named in the report (Raudy Omar Sanchez de la Cruz), which would be very unusual for a minor. The child mentioned is Sano's relative, the alleged victim of Sanchez de la Cruz, who is not named.

 

I just did a sweep for any new information regarding this story and came up empty handed. There are some newer stories published, such as this Associated Press report available on KARE 11's site, but they're all rehashing the details of the original report.

 

There's a hearing set for June 25, not sure there will be anything else reported between now and then. 

[Doubles]

Sorry Tom- I misinterpreted the post I quoted. I was referring to the part of the rumored child sexual abuse. We can all agree THAT is unspeakable.

[Tom Froemming]

 

Sorry Tom- I misinterpreted the post I quoted. I was referring to the part of the rumored child sexual abuse. We can all agree THAT is unspeakable.

Got it, and agreed. This whole story is very difficult to follow, so I just wanted to include that clarification just in case the way any of the previous information presented was misleading.