By Deandra Grant & Griffin Grant

Welcome to The Defense File where we examine the criminal cases of public figures through the lens of Texas criminal law. Each entry looks at what happened in court, what the defense argued, and what a defendant would have faced (and how they might have been defended) if the same facts had occurred in Texas.

A note on this entry: the allegations in the Franco case are among the most serious that any person can face, involving alleged sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl. The case is ongoing as of April 2026 and Franco has not been convicted of anything. This entry does not presume guilt. It examines what the alleged conduct, if proved, would be charged as under Texas law and the answer reflects how seriously Texas law treats the sexual exploitation of minors.

 

The Case

Social media posts surfaced in August 2023 alleging that Wander Franco, then a 22-year-old shortstop for the Tampa Bay Rays, had an inappropriate relationship with a 14-year-old girl in the Dominican Republic. Dominican authorities opened an investigation. Franco was arrested in Puerto Plata on January 1, 2024, after failing to appear for a summons, and held for a week before being released on a 2 million Dominican pesos ($34,000) bond.

Prosecutors charged him with sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of a minor, and human trafficking. The human trafficking allegation is grounded in evidence that money was transferred to the girl’s mother, Martha Almonte, through Franco’s mother, with authorities characterizing the payments as compensation for the mother’s facilitation of access to the minor. Almonte was separately charged with money laundering and placed under house arrest.

In November 2024, Franco was arrested again after police found an unregistered Glock pistol in his vehicle during an altercation. He faces separate firearms charges in that proceeding.

A preliminary hearing in September 2024 found sufficient evidence for trial. The charges were amended to sexual and psychological abuse (carrying a potential 2 to 5 years in the Dominican system) though the human trafficking charge, carrying up to 20 years, remained in play. The trial was postponed after the absence of 33 of 36 scheduled witnesses and was rescheduled to June 2025. In June 2025 Franco was convicted and given a 2 year suspended sentence but the conviction was later overturned and a new trial ordered. The Dominican courts operate without juries; a panel of judges decides the verdict. Franco’s defense has argued the father of the minor withdrew his complaint and that there is no case.

 

The Texas Analysis

The same alleged conduct, charged under Texas law, would produce charges dramatically more serious than what Franco faces in the Dominican Republic. The base offense in the Dominican system carries 2 to 5 years. The Texas equivalents (sexual assault of a child, aggravated sexual assault, and trafficking of persons for sexual conduct involving a minor) are felonies carrying decades in prison, with no probation available in the most serious forms, and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration upon conviction.

Sexual Assault of a Child: Texas Penal Code §22.011

Texas Penal Code §22.011(a)(2) makes it a crime for an adult to engage in sexual contact or intercourse with a child younger than 17 years of age, regardless of consent. The age of consent in Texas is 17. A 14-year-old cannot legally consent to sexual activity with an adult under any circumstances in Texas.

Sexual assault of a child (14–16 years old) is a second-degree felony carrying 2 to 20 years in TDCJ and a fine up to $10,000. Each separate act constitutes a separate offense.

Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child: Texas Penal Code §22.021

When the victim is younger than 14, the charge is elevated to aggravated sexual assault of a child under §22.021 which is a first-degree felony. The distinction at the 14-year threshold is significant. The girl in the Franco case was described as 14. If she was under 14 at the time of any alleged act, each act would be charged as a first-degree felony. If she was 14 at the time, the charge is a second-degree felony per act.

Aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14 is a first-degree felony carrying 5 to 99 years or life in TDCJ. The mandatory minimum for aggravated sexual assault of a child under 6, or where certain aggravating circumstances apply, is 25 years.

Continuous Sexual Abuse of Young Child: Texas Penal Code §21.02

Texas Penal Code §21.02 creates a separate offense (continuous sexual abuse of a young child) for defendants who commit two or more acts of sexual abuse against a child under 14 over a period of 30 days or more. The offense is designed specifically to address ongoing abuse relationships rather than isolated incidents.

Continuous sexual abuse of a young child is a first-degree felony carrying 25 to 99 years or life in TDCJ. There is no probation and no deferred adjudication for this offense under any circumstances. A conviction requires service of every day of the sentence imposed. The jury must unanimously agree on at least two acts of abuse but need not agree on which specific acts occurred.

If the allegations describe an ongoing relationship over a period exceeding 30 days with a child under 14, this is the charge Texas prosecutors would pursue. The punishment range starts where the Dominican Republic’s maximum for human trafficking ends.

Trafficking of Persons: Texas Penal Code §20A.02

The allegation that money was paid to the girl’s mother in exchange for facilitating access to the minor directly implicates the Texas trafficking statute. Texas Penal Code §20A.02(a)(7) and (a)(8) make it a felony to traffic a child by causing the child to engage in sexual conduct, or to receive a benefit from participating in such a venture.

Trafficking of a child for sexual conduct is a first-degree felony in Texas. If the child is under 14, the offense carries an enhanced mandatory minimum of 25 years. If the child is 14 to 17, the punishment range is 5 to 99 years or life. There is no probation, no deferred adjudication, and no parole for certain trafficking convictions until a mandatory portion of the sentence is served.

The payment structure alleged in the Franco case (money transferred through family members to the girl’s mother in exchange for the mother’s facilitation of the relationship) is precisely the fact pattern Texas’s trafficking statute addresses. Both the person who makes the payment and the person who receives it can be charged. The mother’s conduct would separately constitute a trafficking offense under §20A.02(a)(8).

Sex Offender Registration: Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 62

A conviction for any of the offenses described above (sexual assault of a child, aggravated sexual assault, continuous sexual abuse, or trafficking of a minor for sexual conduct) requires registration as a sex offender in Texas under Chapter 62 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. For the most serious offenses involving child victims, registration is lifetime and there is no petition for removal from the registry.

Sex offender registration in Texas is not a collateral consequence. It is a direct, mandatory consequence of conviction. It is disclosed to employers, landlords, neighbors, and the general public. It restricts where a registered offender can live and work. It follows a convicted defendant for life, regardless of subsequent behavior, rehabilitation, or time elapsed since the offense.

In the Dominican Republic, the base charge carries 2 to 5 years. In Texas, a conviction on the most serious applicable charges would carry a sentence potentially exceeding the defendant’s remaining natural life, with no possibility of deferred adjudication, no probation, and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration. The gap between the two jurisdictions’ consequences is not marginal.

The Firearms Charge in Texas

The November 2024 incident in which an unregistered Glock pistol was found in Franco’s vehicle would be analyzed differently in Texas than in the Dominican Republic. Texas does not require registration of handguns by private citizens. Possession of a handgun is lawful under Texas’s constitutional carry framework (HB 1927, effective September 1, 2021) for most adults 21 and older who are not otherwise prohibited from possessing firearms.

The key Texas consequence would arrive at conviction on the primary charges. Federal law under 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(1) permanently prohibits anyone convicted of a felony from possessing firearms or ammunition. A Texas conviction on any of the child sex offense charges described above would permanently strip Franco of any right to possess a firearm under federal law, regardless of any state-level firearms rights. The firearms charge in the Dominican Republic is a separate legal issue; in Texas, the firearms consequence flows automatically from any felony sex offense conviction.

 

The Defense Framework in Texas

In the United States, and in Texas specifically, a defendant charged with sexual offenses involving a minor faces an extraordinarily difficult defense environment. The charges carry enormous social stigma and the jury pool approaches these cases with heightened emotional responses. Texas law provides no mechanism to avoid sex offender registration upon conviction. Probation and deferred adjudication are unavailable for the most serious charges. The sentence structure is measured in decades.

Despite this environment, vigorous defense is both constitutionally required and practically available. The strongest defense arguments in cases of this type typically focus on:

  • The credibility and consistency of the complaining witness. Digital communications, social media records, and witness testimony are examined for internal inconsistencies. The defense reviews all prior statements made by the alleged victim and any third parties.
  • Digital evidence authentication. WhatsApp messages, financial transfer records, and social media posts must be properly authenticated under the rules of evidence. The defense challenges chain of custody, metadata, and whether the communications are what the prosecution claims them to be.
  • The payment structure. Whether money transfers constitute evidence of trafficking, as opposed to other explanations, is a factual issue. The defense examines the full context of any financial transactions, including their stated purpose and timing.
  • Age verification at the time of any alleged contact. The age thresholds in Texas law are precise. The difference between 13 and 14 determines the difference between aggravated sexual assault and sexual assault of a child. Establishing exact ages at the time of each alleged act is a threshold factual question.
  • Article 38.23 — digital evidence obtained in violation of the Constitution. In U.S. proceedings, digital evidence including phone records and financial records requires proper legal process to obtain. Evidence obtained through unlawful searches or subpoenas issued without adequate basis is suppressible.

 

What This Case Illustrates

The Franco case illustrates the vast disparity between how different legal systems treat the sexual exploitation of minors. A 2-to-5-year maximum under the Dominican Republic’s base charge reflects one jurisdiction’s judgment about proportionate punishment. Texas’s penalty structure (decades-to-life sentences with no probation, no deferred adjudication, and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration) reflects a fundamentally different policy judgment about the severity of these offenses and the risk these defendants pose.

For anyone in Texas charged with sexual offenses involving a minor, the stakes are existential in a way that is genuinely different from almost any other category of criminal case. The absence of probation and deferred adjudication for the most serious charges means there is no soft landing. The mandatory sex offender registration means the consequences extend for life beyond the sentence served. The defense must be engaged from the earliest possible moment, the evidence must be rigorously examined, and every available constitutional challenge must be pursued.

 

 

Sources

  • ESPN — Wander Franco investigation timeline: espn.com
  • Associated Press — Franco arrest and charge details: apnews.com
  • Miami Herald — Dominican court proceedings coverage: miamiherald.com
  • Texas Penal Code §22.011 — Sexual Assault: statutes.capitol.texas.gov
  • Texas Penal Code §22.021 — Aggravated Sexual Assault: statutes.capitol.texas.gov
  • Texas Penal Code §21.02 — Continuous Sexual Abuse of Young Child: statutes.capitol.texas.gov
  • Texas Penal Code §20A.02 — Trafficking of Persons: statutes.capitol.texas.gov
  • Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 62 — Sex Offender Registration: statutes.capitol.texas.gov
  • The Defense File is an educational series. All Texas analysis is hypothetical and does not constitute legal advice about any specific case. The Franco case remains unresolved as of publication.

 

If you or a family member is facing sex crime charges in Texas, call (214) 225-7117 for a free, confidential consultation. These cases require experienced defense from the earliest possible stage or schedule online at texasdwisite.com.