BRADENTON, Fla., March 27 (UPI) -- Jose Tabata, a prospect with the Pittsburgh Pirates, said Friday that his wife of 14 months deceived him about a pregnancy and about her criminal record.
Tabata read a statement in Bradenton, Fla., where he was playing with the Altoona, Pa., Curve, an AA Pirates farm team, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. The 20-year-old met and married Amalia Pereira, who is more than twice his age, while he was playing with a Yankees affiliate in Tampa.
Pereira was charged earlier this week with abducting a baby from a farm worker couple that she allegedly tried to pass off as her own. Tabata said he only learned after her arrest that she had spent more than two years in prison for fraud and arson.
"As you and Pirates fans get to know me, you'll understand that, when this is all over, I will never be able to forgive her for her cruel actions," he said.
Tabata, who has a tattooed likeness of the late Roberto Clemente, who played for the Pirates, on his chest, said that he asked himself what his role model would have done.
"I know Clemente was a man known for his decency, responsibility, doing what he says and always doing the correct thing," he said. "And I believe the only correct thing in this moment is to tell the truth."
