Major League Baseball investigators interviewed a woman who said the outgoing free agent Yasiel Puig sexually assaulted her in a Staples Center bathroom, but did not take any further action because of her desire to remain anonymous and awaits further evidence. which could occur. The MLB source told ESPN.
With the start of the baseball season a few weeks away, Puig, 30, is out of work, at least in part because of the indictment, according to a source in a team’s main office.
The woman, identified in federal court documents only as Jane Roe, sued Puig in October last year, saying the former Dodgers player followed her into a bathroom after an October 2018 Lakers game, “fixing -a. , he touched her and masturbated in front of her.
The woman did not file a police report. Puig was not charged with any crime. He denies the allegations in a court case and also asks a judge to dismiss the case.
Several teams that expressed interest in Puig this spring weighed the allegations in their decisions.
“No one wants that headache,” a senior office source told ESPN.
Puig’s lawyer declined to comment on the case or make Puig available for comment. His agent, Rachel Luba, also declined to comment.
In November, a Major League Baseball lawyer interviewed the woman who sued Puig and provided a list of resources available to victims of sexual assault, women’s lawyer Taylor Rayfield told ESPN.
Rayfield said that following a November interview with his client, a Major League Baseball lawyer told him that the league could not further investigate the matter because the woman refused to give her name.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred can discipline players for domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse and has done so several times since the league adopted a new policy in 2015.
“They claim they have a policy of personal conduct. Well, what could violate this more than what happened here?” Rayfield said, adding: “I would like to see them take action against players and hold them accountable and not allow people in their organizations to be sexually and physically abused.”
An MLB source confirmed that an investigator spoke to the woman. The source also said that Puig was not interviewed about the allegations, as MLB generally does not approach a player until after a thorough investigation. The case remains open and the source said that MLB investigators are waiting to see what details come out of the trial.
In an interview with ESPN, the woman talked extensively about her meeting with Puig.
ESPN usually does not identify people involved in sexual assault unless they have chosen to make their names public. The 32-year-old woman from California told ESPN that she owns a business that connects her to various professional athletes. She asked to be identified as “Jane” for the purpose of the interview.
Jane said she met Puig in the President’s Room, a downstairs room at the south end of the Staples Center, accessible only to fans with floor-level chairs and a short list of VIPs and celebrities who frequent Lakers games. . Jane participated in the game with two other people, a friend and her fiancé.
He said he had never met Puig and did not recognize him when he first approached her at the break, commented on the hat he was wearing and started a conversation.
“He was just trying to interact with me. He was chic,” he said.
A few minutes later, Jane said, Puig, who was sitting on the other side of the room at the time, gestured to her, pointing his eyes at her with two fingers and then at her as if to say, “I look at you. “He said he dismissed the interaction as a more harmless flirtation.
After the game, Jane went to the bathroom, where she said that Puig followed her and physically immobilized her by immobilizing her with her forearm. The trial says Puig tried to take off her clothes, touched her, exposed herself, then masturbated in front of her.
Later that night, Puig sent Jane a text message stating: “Private between me and me [sic] no one needs to know everything that’s going on, “according to a text message transcript that appears in court documents. It was the first of several text messages Puig sent in the following days in an attempt to meet Jane in privately, he said.
Jane said she did not remember exactly when she gave Puig her phone number, but that it would not have been unusual for her to do so, given the line of work.
She never went to the police largely because she tried to forget the incident, according to her lawyer. Jane says she only talked to her fiancé and younger brother about what happened to her.
Jane’s brother told ESPN that he remembers receiving a call on game night or the next day and was surprised to hear his sister “confused.” She said she initially provided only partial details.
“She was like, ‘Yeah, he was obsessed with me and he followed me to the bathroom. “It seemed like a super creepy guy trying to catch her,” Jane’s brother said.
He said he remembered that his sister described Puig as “intimidating” and “aggressive” and that Jane was “very scared,” but said Jane had never described a sexual assault.
It was only after the trial began in October and the media coverage that followed, mainly in the Los Angeles area, that his brother realized the full extent of the accusations, he said.
In the weeks and months following the alleged Staples Center incident, Jane said, each day felt like “a nightmare” in her brain. She said the meeting made her more irritable and quicker to explode, which her brother said he also noticed and put pressure on her relationship with her fiancé. Jane also said she had lost her sense of personal security.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t use a bathroom in public places anymore because I was afraid that someone would follow me there. And when you start thinking about things like that, it changes the shape of the whole world … When you do that, it’s almost like you’re paranoid wherever you go. “
In a January case seeking the dismissal of the lawsuit, Puig’s lawyers argued that Jane had failed to fulfill her legal task “to establish that anonymity was appropriate.” The file states that anonymity is granted “only in the rare case where the need for anonymity is greater than the harm done to the accused and the right to open courts”.
Puig’s lawyers say Jane’s permission to remain anonymous “gives unjustified credibility” to her allegations and “the effect of all these statements is to convict Mr Puig in public court, even before Puig has a chance to defend himself”.
In his response, Rayfield presented court documents describing efforts to reveal his client’s identity as “nothing more than a subtle attempt by defendant Puig to humiliate, harass and punish.” [Jane] … in the hope that their claims against him will be rejected. “
“I think it’s an intimidation tactic,” Jane said. “I feel like he’s attacking me. I feel like he’s victimizing me again and I don’t understand why anyone would do that.”
The risk of being publicly identified is “a major deterrent for survivors to report,” said Scott Berkowitz, president of RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network). In focus groups and surveys, “anonymity is always number one” on the list of survivors’ concerns, he said.
While Jane’s trial continues, Puig remains unemployed.
Puig broke out on stage with the Los Angeles Dodgers in June 2013, leading the majors with a .436 batting average that month and winning the National League of the Moon honors.
Puig was arrested twice for reckless driving in 2013 and was investigated in 2015 by MLB after he fought a goalkeeper and was accused of pushing his sister into a bar in Miami. No charges were filed and he was not sanctioned.
The last time he wore a major league uniform was in 2019, when he appeared in 100 games for the Cincinnati Reds. Puig continued to play 49 games for the Cleveland Indians after a mid-season deal. He did not play at all during the shortened 2020 season, beyond five games in the Dominican Republic Winter League. His positive COVID-19 test in July broke a possible deal he was expected to sign with the Atlanta Braves.
A California federal judge is considering Jane’s motion to dismiss and anonymity. Lawyers for both sides said they did not know when the judge would issue his ruling. Jane said her decision to start the trial was partly motivated by a desire to hold Puig accountable.
“I felt like he was a predator to me and that someone with that mindset could do that to someone else. I honestly don’t want to be able to do that to anyone else. At the end of the day, that’s what I want.”
If you are the victim of a sexual assault, contact the national hotline at 800-656-4673 or access the national rape, abuse and incest (rape, abuse and incest) portal https://www.rainn.org National Network of incest).
ESPN reporter TJ Quinn contributed to the report.