Major League investigators interviewed a woman who said free agent gardener Yasiel Puig sexually assaulted her in a bathroom at the Staples Center, but no further action has been taken because of her desire to remain anonymous. they are waiting for more evidence that could emerge from the lawsuit, an MLB source told ESPN.
With the start of the baseball season 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 last October, saying the former Dodgers gardener followed her to a bathroom after a Lakers game in October of 2018, he “immobilized her with one arm” to keep her from going out, touched her, and masturbated in front of her.
The woman did not file a police report. Puig has not been charged with any crime. He denies the allegations in a court case and also asks a judge to dismiss the lawsuit.
Several teams that allegedly expressed interest in Puig this spring have taken the allegations into account in their decisions.
“No one wants this headache,” the source of a main office told ESPN.
Puig’s lawyer refused to comment on the lawsuit or make Puig available for comment. Her agent Rachel Luba also declined to comment.
In November, a Major League lawyer interviewed the woman who is suing Puig and provided her with a list of available resources for victims of sexual assault, the woman’s lawyer, Taylor Rayfield, told ESPN .
Rayfield said that in a follow-up to the 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 Commissioner Rob Manfred can discipline players for acts of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse and has done so more than a dozen times since the league adopted a new policy in 2015.
“They claim to have a personal conduct policy. 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 who are part of their organizations to be sexually and physically abused.”
An MLB source confirmed that an investigator spoke to the woman. The source also said Puig has not been interviewed about the allegations, because MLB generally does not approach a player until after conducting a thorough investigation. The case is open and the source said MLB investigators are waiting to see what details emerge from the lawsuit.
In an interview with ESPN, the woman spoke extensively about her meeting with Puig.
ESPN does not normally identify people involved in sexual assault cases unless they have chosen to make their names public. The 32-year-old woman, originally from California, told ESPN that she owns a business that puts her in touch with several professional athletes. He asked to be identified as “Jane” for the purpose of the interview.
Jane said she met Puig in the President’s Room, a room under the stands at the south end of the Staples Center accessible only to fans with floor-level seats and a short list of VIPs and celebrities who routinely attend Lakers games. Jane attended the game with two more people, a friend and her fiancé.
He said he had never met Puig and did not recognize him when he first approached him in the meantime, made a comment about the hat he was wearing and struck up a conversation.
“He was just trying to interact with me. He was being nice,” he said.
Minutes later, Jane said, Puig, who was standing on the other side of the room at the time, gestured to her, pointing his eyes with two fingers and then at her as if to say, “I’m looking at you. “. He said he dismissed the interaction as a more harmless flirtation.
After the game, Jane went to the bathroom, where she said Puig followed her and physically immobilized her by immobilizing her with her forearm. The lawsuit says Puig tried to take her clothes off, touched her, exposed herself and then masturbated in front of her.
Later that night, Puig sent Jane a text message saying, “Private between me and me [sic] everything that happens, no one should know, “according to a text message transcript that appears in court documents. It was the first of several text messages that Puig sent in the following days in an attempt to meet Jane in private, he said.
Jane said she can’t remember exactly when she gave Puig her phone number, but that it wouldn’t have been unusual for her to do so, given her line of work.
She never went to the police in large part because she tried to forget about the incident, according to her lawyer. Jane says she only talked to her fiancé and younger brother about what had happened to him.
Jane’s brother told ESPN she remembers receiving a call the night of the game or the next day and was surprised to hear her sister “distressed.” She said that at first she only conveyed partial details.
“She was like, ‘Yeah, she was obsessed with me and she followed me to the bathroom.’ She sounded like she was being a super creepy guy trying to catch me,” Jane’s brother said.
He said he recalls that his sister described Puig as “intimidating” and “aggressive” and that Jane “was very scared,” but said Jane never went so far as to describe sexual assault.
It was only after the lawsuit was filed in October and the media coverage that followed, primarily in the Los Angeles area, that his brother realized the full scope of the allegations, he said.
In the weeks and months that followed the alleged incident at the Staples Center, Jane said, every day felt like “there was a nightmare” in her brain. She said the encounter made her more irritable and quick to explode, which her brother said he also noticed, and put tension on her relationship with her fiancé. Jane also said she lost her sense of personal security.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t use a bathroom again in public places because I was afraid someone would follow me there. And when you start thinking about things like that, that changes the way your whole world … When you do that, it’s almost like if you were paranoid wherever you go. “
In a January filing seeking dismissal of the lawsuit, Puig’s lawyers argued that Jane did not comply with the legal charge “to establish that anonymity is appropriate.” The filing says anonymity is granted “only in the rare case where the need for anonymity outweighs harm to the defendant and the right to open courts.”
Puig’s lawyers argue that allowing Jane to remain anonymous “gives unjustified credibility” to her allegations and “the effect of all these statements is to convict Mr. Puig in public opinion court, even before Puig have the opportunity to defend themselves. “
In his response, Rayfield presented court documents describing efforts to reveal his client’s identity as “nothing more than a barely veiled attempt by defendant Puig to humiliate, harass and punish [Jane] … in the hope that his claims against him will be withdrawn. “
“I think it’s an intimidation tactic,” Jane said. “I feel like they’re attacking me. I feel like I’m being victimized again and I don’t understand why anyone would do that.”
The risk of being publicly identified is “a major impediment for survivors to report,” said Scott Berkowitz, president of the Rainn organization (Rap, Abuse & Incest National Network). focus groups and surveys, “anonymity is always number one” on the list of survivors’ concerns, he said.
While Jane’s demand continues, Puig remains unemployed.
Puig burst onto the scene with the Los Angeles Dodgers in June 2013, leading the Major Leagues with a batting average of 436 this month and winning National League Player of the Month honors.
Puig was arrested twice for reckless driving in 2013 and in 2015 MLB investigated him after he quarreled with a doorman and was accused of pushing his sister into a Miami bar. 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 went on to play 49 games with the Cleveland Indians after a mid-season exchange. He did not play at all during the abbreviated 2020 season beyond five games in the Winter League in the Dominican Republic. His positive COVID-19 test in July damaged a possible deal he was expected to sign with the Atlanta Braves.
A California federal judge is considering the motion to dismiss and the issue of Jane’s anonymity. Lawyers on both sides said they do not know when the judge will issue his ruling. Jane said her decision to file the lawsuit was motivated in part by Puig’s desire to hold her accountable.
“I felt like he was a predator towards me and that someone with that mindset could do this to someone else. Honestly, I don’t want him to be able to do this to someone else. At the end of the day, that’s what I want “.
If you are a victim of sexual assault you are decided by the national hotline on sexual assault at 800-656-4673 or go to the portal https://www.rainn.org of the National Network of Offense, Abuse and Incest (Rap, Abuse & incest National Network).
ESPN reporter TJ Quinn contributed to this report.