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One of the women who accused former Major League Baseball pitcher Trevor Bauer of sexual assault, Darcy Adanna Esemonu, has been charged with felony fraud.
A Maricopa County grand jury indicted Esemonu on Monday and charged her with fraudulent schemes and artifices, a class 2 felony, as well as theft by extortion, a class 4 felony.
The first crime is described as knowingly obtaining a benefit from the victims by means of fraudulent pretenses, representations, promises, or material omissions.
The second offense is described as knowingly obtaining or seeking to obtain property or services from the victim by means of threat to in the future expose a secret etc.
The maximum prison sentence for these two crimes is 16.25 years. Her arraignment is set for Friday, April 26 at 9 a.m. local time.
The crimes were allegedly perpetrated against Trevor Bauer and another man named Marco Bresciani.
Trevor Bauer responded to the indictment of Darcy Adanna Esemonu with a video on his social media channels on Monday.
In it, Bauer explained that he did have a sexual encounter with Esemonu and claimed that she kept pursuing him to have more and even at one point requested he give her a sample of his sperm so she could have his child in the future.
He also claims that she “made at least four 7-figure demands over the last few years. More than a year after the one time we slept together — and only after Lindsey Hill made up her false allegations — Adanna retained a lawyer.”
“She then demanded $3.6 million dollars and claimed I forced her to have an abortion leaving her ’emotionally devastated and irretrievably damaged’ by it. But here’s the thing – she never had an abortion, because she was never even pregnant, and that’s corroborated by her own medical records.
“When I refused to pay her the $3.6 million dollars she was asking for, she made up a bogus sexual assault claim and filed a civil suit against me. In that version of her story, she claimed, for the first time by the way, that there was nonconsensual sex.”
Bauer says two law firms dropped her after acknowledging they never had evidence to support her claims and that they could no longer represent her unless she can provide any documentation or proof of her claims.
“Adanna has filed more than 10 police reports claiming sexual assault or harassment against other men, including at least one other professional athlete,” said Bauer. “But after the Scottsdale Police completed their investigation into her claim against me, she’s the one being indicted for felony fraud — and not just against me, against another man as well.”
Bauer then addressed the two other women who have made accusations against him.
He says both of them demanded “in excess of $3 million dollars to ‘not go public.'” He refused to pay.
“They both had the opportunity to file a criminal complaint against me,” Bauer said. “Neither of them did. They both had the opportunity to file a civil suit against me. Neither of them did. They both had the opportunity to participate in Lindsey Hill’s civil suit against me. They could have even done so anonymously. They both refused.”
He points out that as of right now “there are no claims against me, no ongoing investigations, and no outstanding lawsuits.”
“At this point, I’m not sure what else I can possibly do to prove my innocence in all of this,” he concluded. “I did not do what I was accused of, and every institution that our society has entrusted to rule on issues like these, like courts, judges, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, etc., they all agree with me. They’ve rejected every single claim made against me, even going as far as charging one of my accusers with a felony. If any evidence of any of these claims actually existed, I would have been charged, or at the very least arrested. But that never happened.
“What else do I have to do to prove that this entire situation has been a massive lie? This is insane. At what point do I get to go back to work and continue earning a living?”
Bauer, 33, who has essentially been blackballed from playing in Major League Baseball, despite not having been charged with any crimes, won the National League Cy Young Award in 2020. He currently pitches for the Diablos Rojos del Mexico of the Mexican League. In 2023, he pitched in Nippon Professional Baseball for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.