TAMPA, Fla. -- The estranged wife of Pirates rookie outfielder Jose Tabata has pled guilty after being accused of faking a pregnancy and stealing a baby to fool her husband into thinking he was the father.
Amalia Tabata-Pereira, 44, pled guilty Wednesday in Hillsborough Circuit Court on charges of kidnapping, interference with custody and impersonating a public officer.
She will be sentenced Sept. 30 and faces life imprisonment.
Prosecutors hope to double whatever sentence Pereira receives on those charges, claiming she is a habitual violent offender. That could boost each sentence from five to 10 years.
In March 2009, Tabata-Pereira posed as an immigration official and threatened a migrant worker and her boyfriend with deportation if they didn't give their baby girl to Pereira, prosecutors say. The mother complied, then contacted police six hours later to report a kidnapping.
After spending a night with the baby and Tabata at his spring training house in Bradenton, Pereira turned herself in and handed the infant over to authorities.
Tabata, who is in his second month with the Pirates, was cleared of any wrongdoing immediately and said he had no idea his wife wasn't pregnant. He was told by Pereira that he missed the baby's birth two months earlier because he was playing winter baseball in Venezuela. Pereira allegedly faked her pregnancy by gaining weight.
Tabata declined to speak to reporters yesterday, relaying through a team spokesman that he no longer speaks to his wife and is trying to finalize their pending divorce.
"Jose has done everything the organization asked of him and more as he worked his way up to our Major League club," Brian Warecki, the team's senior director of communications, said in a statement. "He is a hard-working player on the field, with a strong sense of community off the field, having participated in numerous events, most recently speaking to students from a local elementary school and partipating in a local Cub Scout graduation ceremony."
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Originally Posted by MasterOfPuppets
