Woman who accused Trevor Bauer of sexual assault facing 16 years in prison for felony fraud

Trevor Bauer inside the locker room at spring training. Photo Credit: Bobby Nightengale/Cincinnati Enquirer

One of the women who accused Trevor Bauer of sexual assault is facing 16 years in prison for felony fraud.

On Monday, Darcy Adanna Esemonu was criminally charged by the state of Arizona with two counts of felony fraud. The charges stem from Esemonu’s actions toward both Bauer and another man.

The first count Esemonu faces is for Fraudulent schemes and artifices, which is a Class 2 felony in Arizona and carries a sentence of 3-12.5 years. The crime is “to knowingly obtain a benefit from the victims by means of fraudulent pretenses, representations, promises, or material omissions.” Both Bauer and another man were alleged victims of Esemonu in this regard.

The second count Esemonu faces is for Theft by extortion, which is a Class 4 felony in Arizona and carries a sentence of 1-3.75 years. The crime for theft by extortion is described as “knowingly did obtain or sought to obtain property or services from the victim by means of threat to in the future expose a secret etc.” The other man is the alleged victim for this count.

Bauer has not pitched in MLB since facing accusations of sexual misconduct from Lindsey Hill in 2021. He was originally suspended two years by MLB over the allegations but had the suspension reduced to 194 games by an arbitrator.

Last year, Bauer and Hill dropped and settled their lawsuits against each other. Bauer published a video at the time that included evidence he felt exonerated him.

On Tuesday, Bauer published a new video regarding the charges against Esemonu. Bauer claims Esemonu approached him and the two had a sexual encounter in December 2020. Later, she demanded $3.6 million from Bauer because she claimed he forced her to have an abortion. After he refused to pay her the money, she then made up a sexual assault claim and filed a civil lawsuit against Bauer. Bauer says medical records show Esemonu neither was pregnant nor had an abortion. Her claims were rejected by two law firms due to a lack of evidence.

In the video, Bauer also addressed the accusations he has faced from two other anonymous women. The accusations were publicized by a 2022 report from The Washington Post. Bauer says those two women only went to the media with the anonymous claims after he refused to pay them money. He adds that neither woman filed a criminal or civil suit against him despite having the opportunity to do so. His implication is that neither woman has done so because they are both lying and were reluctant to face potential perjury charges.

You can see Bauer’s video.

Criminal charges have been brought against my accuser pic.twitter.com/x9QDQbRvOX

— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) April 16, 2024