Report: Dodgers Kept Accusations Of Sexual Assault Against Minor League Player Quiet
LOS ANGELES (CBS Local) — A new report alleges the Los Angeles Dodgers knew about allegations of sexual assault in 2015 made against a former player in their minor league system, and did nothing about them.
According to The Daily Beast, the manager of the Hampton Inn in Glendale, Ariz., emailed the Dodgers organization detailing that a player who had just been recently signed by the organization was accused of harassing and sexually assaulting an employee at the hotel. The email, obtained by The Daily Beast said the following:
"I guess for a few weeks now [the player] has been making remarks and asking her to go out with him," said the manager in the email. "She keeps telling him that she has a boyfriend and is not interested but he still keeps making comments."
"On Sunday things elevated where she was cleaning another room and he came up behind her and grabbed her," the email continued. "She pushed him back and he came back and grabbed her yet again. She told him that she wasn't interested and that he needed to leave and he did."
The identity of the player and the team he played for was not disclosed.
The Daily Beast also obtained a chain of emails from within the organization following the incident that reportedly shows that there was very little doubt about the credibility of the accusations.
The player was reportedly sent back to Latin America before being released a couple of months later, but he was then signed by another MLB minor league team. Eventually, he was released by that team as well.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, the Dodgers, who are also currently part of an investigation by the Department of Justice for their recruiting practices in Latin America according to Sports Illustrated, said that personnel matters are not commented on publicly. Major League Baseball said that the matter was handled internally by the club. The incident occurred after the league had instituted its new Joint Policy on Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse in conjunction with the MLBPA.
Several former and current members of the Dodgers organization commented to The Daily Beast on its findings, including manager of international scouting Roman Barinas, who said he was unfamiliar with the details of the incident, but that the player had crossed a line and is "extremely lucky he isn't in jail."
