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It’s electric (boogie-woogie-woogie)!

Posted by Coley Ward on Tuesday August 22nd 2006, 11:17 am - filed in News reel

Dominican officials are accusing former major leaguers Raul Mondesi and Jose Rijo of electrical fraud.

Not tax fraud. Not memorabilia fraud. Electrical fraud.

The charges come as part of some big Dominican electrical fraud sting. Across the small nation, crews that detect electrical fraud found irregularities worth some RD$50 million in the last 2 months.

Rijo was slapped a $67,766 peso fine for rigging his home’s major appliances and heaters with separate connections, which kept the electric meter from accurately measuring consumption. Mondesí was fined RD$150,000 for similar violations and reportedly hasn’t yet paid his fine.

Back in 2004, Mondesi stopped playing for the last place Pirates, forcing the team to cut him, and then signed a contract a week later with the first place Angels. Maybe he’s applying a similar tactic now, thinking that if he just doesn’t pay the fine, the government will give up and move on.

Rijo, who is the only player to play in a game after receiving a Hall of Fame vote, currently serves (according to Wikipedia) as a special assistant to Jim Bowden. Which means the Nationals can add one more conviction to their front office staff. Although, this isn’t a violation of U.S. law, so I don’t know if that counts. It’s kind of a gray area.

**EDITORS NOTE: If you’re reposting this, may I suggest a title something like, “Illegally Juiced.”


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