MILWAUKEE -- California Angels outfielder Luis Polonia has settled a lawsuit with a Milwaukee young woman who sued him after the two had sex at a hotel room when she was 15, the woman's lawyer said Monday.
Polonia, who was with the New York Yankees during the 1989 incident, took the girl to the Pfister Hotel in 1989 after a game with the Milwaukee Brewers.
He claimed she consented to sexual intercourse and that she told him she was 19 and had had sex before with several baseball players. The woman's lawyer, James Murphy, said she was a virgin, 'particularly naive and vulnerable and was led to believe that Polonia's attentions were virtuous and honorable.'
Murphy said the lawsuit was settled over the weekend. He declined to name the amount of the settlement, but said it was 'very substantial and would cause Polonia to think twice about using his celebrity status to prey upon underage females who tend to look up to and admire professional athletes.'
Murphy said the settlement would pay for psychological therapy for his client and provide for her future education.
Polonia was criminally charged in the incident and pleaded no contest to sexual intercourse with a child. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail, fined $1,500 and ordered to pay $10,000 to the Sexual Assault Treatment Center at Sinai Samaritan Medical Center.
Polonia agreed in January to a $2.4 million, one-year contract with the Angels.
