SANTO DOMINGO — A Dominican court has handed down sentences ranging from 5 to 30 years in prison to 10 men involved in the attempted murder of former Boston Red Sox star David Ortiz in June 2019.
The court handed down the sentence to those involved who have been in pretrial detention since that year, for having participated in the execution or organization of the ambush in which Ortiz was shot while he was conversing with a group of friends in an exclusive bar in Santo Domingo.
On the night of that Sunday, June 9, a man got off a motorcycle and shot the former slugger in the back at close range. The retired baseball player had to undergo several surgeries in his native Dominican Republic and in the United States.
The judges determined that Rolfi “Sandy” Ferreras Cruz, 27, was the person who shot and that Eddy “Nata” Vladimir Féliz García, 26, drove the motorcycle. Both were sentenced to 30 years in prison.
“Alberto Miguel Rodríguez Mota, 28 years old, the person who paid those who carried out the act, must serve 20 years in prison,” the Dominican judicial body reported in a statement.
Together with them, Oliver Moisés Mirabal, 28, and José Eduardo “Chucky” Ciprián Lebrón, 24, were sentenced to ten years in prison.
A nine-year sentence was also imposed on Gabriel Alexander “Hueso” Pérez Vizcaíno (Hueso), 31, and a six-year sentence on Joel “Calamardo” Rodríguez de la Cruz, 28.
Five years in prison, for a minor participation, were sentenced Franklin Junior Merán (Rubirosa), 26 years old; Junior César “Yayo” La Hoz Vargas, 28, and Porfirio Ayendi “Nene” Dechamps Vásquez, 29.
“There was an association of criminals, the use of illegal firearms, attempted murder and complicity, crimes provided for and punished in articles 2, 265, 266, 296, 297, 298 and 302 of the Dominican Penal Code,” the prosecutors detailed.
The first collegiate court also exonerated three suspects on Monday, due to lack of sufficient evidence.
Among them was Víctor Hugo Gómez Vásquez, accused of planning the attack. US private investigators, hired by Ortiz, said the former Hall of Famer was attacked on the orders of a Dominican drug trafficker who was envious of him.
The findings of former Boston police commissioner Edward Davis contradicted a previous hypothesis by the Dominican authorities, in the sense that the hitman was hired by Sixto David Fernández, Ortiz’s cousin and who was at the same table at the time of the attack.
Dominican authorities had surmised that the hitmen mistook Fernández for Ortiz. “
Big Papi,” possessed of tremendous bat power and a captivating smile, guided Boston to three World Series titles. He was a 10-time All-Star and racked up 541 home runs before retiring in 2016.
When he was attacked, he was residing in the Dominican Republic for part of the year. As a result of the gunshots, Ortiz’s gallbladder and part of an intestine had to be removed. Authorities noted that they will release more details of the sentence on February 8.
