The wife of third-year Seattle Mariners outfielder Carlos Peguero is facing federal charges after allegedly making $180,000 in unauthorized purchases on a debit card belonging to the wife of Seattle starting pitcher Felix Hernandez, reports Mike Carter of The Seattle Times.
Maria Jacqueline Peguero, 22, has been charged with three counts of wire fraud for allegedly purchasing items from Saks Fifth Avenue with Sandra Hernandez's debit card online and having them delivered to her apartment between June 26, 2012, and Oct. 9, 2012.
Mariners senior vice president for communications Randy Adamack told Carter that team officials were “aware of this pending police matter, but are not in a position to discuss it further.”
The charges were filed by the U.S. Secret Service on Oct. 1, and Peguero has pleaded not guilty. She is currently free on bond, but under the watch of federal community Pre-Trial Services, according to the report.
The charges carry a 20-year maximum sentence.
Peguero allegedly spent several days at the home of Hernandez’s wife while the team was on a road trip, and the victim gave access to her credit cards due to her limited command of the English language, according to court documents cited in the report.
Investigators tracked the purchases back to an email address associated with a Twitter account belonging to Peguero, and a search warrant was executed on her home. Several items were seized.
According to the Times report, the purchases were vast:
There were more than 60 transactions in all, ranging from a few hundred dollars to more than $11,000. On some days, as many as five separate purchases were made, according to a list contained in the complaint.
Hernandez is the wife of Mariners’ ace Felix, who has become the face of the franchise. The starter, known widely as King Felix, won the American League Cy Young Award in 2010 and was paid $19 million in 2013. He just completed the first year of a 7-year, $175 million contract extension.
Carlos Peguero, 26, spent most of the past season in Triple A and was signed by Seattle in 2005. According to the report, he told investigators that he did not know about his wife’s online purchases.
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