The wife of a teammate of Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to charges she stole a debit card belonging to the hurler's wife and made unauthorized online purchases totaling nearly $180,000.
Maria Peguero, the wife of outfielder Carlos Peguero, is charged in U.S. District Court in Tacoma with three-counts of wire-fraud, which carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. She is now free on bail, but under the supervision of federal community Pre-Trial Services, according to the Seattle Times.
The newspaper also reports the charges were formally filed by the U.S. Secret Service on Oct. 1 and allege that Maria Peguero used a card belonging to Sandra Hernandez to make purchases from Saks Fifth Avenue and have them delivered to her apartment between June 26, and Oct. 9, of 2012.
In all, court documents reveal there were about 60 different transactions, with purchases ranging from a few hundred dollars to more than $11,000.
Hernandez, affectionately known as "King Felix," is the Mariners' $19 million-a-year Cy Young Award winner, while Peguero is a reserve outfielder who has spent the last several seasons shuffling back and forth between the Mariners and their AAA Tacoma farm team.
According to the court documents, Maria Peguero "spent two or three days" at the Hernandez's Bellevue home in May 2012 while Felix Hernandez was away. The Mariners had a long road stretch in the middle of the month, playing in New York, Boston, Cleveland and Denver.
During that time, Sandra Hernandez told investigators she and Peguero shopped online. The complaint further indicates that Hernandez asked Peguero for help "due to her limited understanding of the English language." Hernandez told investigators that Peguero had access to her credit cards during that time.
Randy Adamack, the Mariners' senior vice president for communications, said team officials are "aware of this pending police matter, but are not in a position to discuss it further."
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