Wife of Pirates prospect arrested for kidnapping
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Amalia Tabata Pereira had her first court appearance on infant kidnapping charges by closed circuit TV in the Manatee County Jail. -
Rosa Sirilo-Francisco, left, and Andres Cruz yesterday as they are leaving the Plant City, Fla. police center with their 2-month-old daughter, Sandra Cruz-Francisco.
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BRADENTON, Fla. -- Pirates prospect Jose Tabata is "not a suspect by any means" in the abduction of a 2-month-old baby, a case in which his wife has been charged, a Plant City, Fla., police spokesman said today.
"I can tell you from our case here in Plant City, he's not a suspect," said Sgt. David Millich of the Plant City police department.
He added that Tabata "happened to be married" to the woman arrested Tuesday.
Jose Tabata was interviewed by the Manatee County Sheriffs Department here Tuesday night in connection with the kidnapping of an infant girl. His wife, Amalia Tabata Pereira, was arrested last night and jailed in lieu of $750,000 bail after a first-appearance hearing this morning.
Department spokesman Dave Bristow said Jose Tabata came to the sheriffs' south Bradenton headquarters "shortly after this ordeal started" late Tuesday afternoon to answer questions from officers, with a Spanish-speaking officer present because Tabata, 20, from Venezuela, has some difficulty with English.
Bristow added that Tabata and the Pirates have been cooperative.
"We're not going to get into what they told us," Bristow said, also referring to hours-long interviews with Amalia Tabata Pereira, 43. She was arrested Tuesday night on charges of false imprisonment and interfering with child custody more than 24 hours after Sandra Cruz-Francisco was taken at a health clinic in Plant City, Fla. -- 56 miles northeast of here. Police say Pereira told the baby's parents that she was an immigration official and that they were going to be deported. Bristow added, "It's not our investigation. We passed on our information to the Plant City folks."
Tabata, whom Hillsborough County records show married Pereira in January 2008 while a former Class A Tampa player in the New York Yankees organization, was traded to the Pirates last July in the Xavier Nady-Damaso Marte deadline deal. He had been sent down from the Pirates' major-league camp last week to continue spring training at Pirate City in east Bradenton with the Class AA Altoona Curve.In a statement released by the Pirates late last night and repeated again this morning, Tabata said: "I was shocked to be told today that my wife has been arrested for kidnapping. I am hurt, frustrated, and confused by her actions. I have and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement officials in any way that I can. Until I have all of the facts, I cannot comment any further."
Bristow said Perreira was expected to be transported this afternoon to the Hillsborough County Jail, because Plant City is under that county's auspices.
As far as the police could tell, Pereira -- who grew up in the Tampa area -- arrived and took up temporary residence in Bradenton soon after Tabata reported to Pirates' spring training in mid-February. She was in town, he said without elaborating, "a short time. A very short time."
First Published March 25, 2009 8:14 am
