Felix Hernandez's Wife Victim Of Wire Fraud; Fellow M's Wife Charged

Maria Peguero, the wife of Mariners outfielder Carlos Peguero, is accused of using Felix Hernandez's wife's debit card to rack up nearly $180,000 in online charges. Peguero allegedly used Sandra Hernandez's card to make over 60 purchases from Sak's Fifth Avenue between June and October 2012. She faces federal wire-fraud charges and penalties including a possible 20 years in prison.

The card issuer, Morgan Stanley, began to investigate when it noticed the delivery address on the transactions—some of which were as high as $11,000—did not match with the billing address. Morgan Stanley reimbursed the Hernandezes when the fraud was discovered and U.S. Secret Service, who oversees federal cybercrime, filed the charges in Tacoma, Washington. Hernandez and his wife are not named in the complaint but according to the Seattle Times, a source confirmed their identities.

According to the complaint, Sandra Hernandez told investigators she and Peguero shopped online during that time. The complaint indicates that Hernandez asked Peguero for help “due to [Hernandez’s] limited understanding of the English language.” Hernandez told investigators that Peguero had access to her credit cards during that time.

According to the investigation, Maria Peguero is associated with an email address, versacegoldbarbie@yahoo.com, that was later traced to a Twitter account on which agents found photographs of Peguero wearing some of the items they believe were purchased illegally from Saks.

In one, Peguero is sitting next to a Gucci handbag identical to one purchased from Saks through the Hernandez account for $1,750.

Maria Peguero is the youngest daughter of late MLB reliever Pedro Borbon. This is a Flickr account for versacegoldbarbie. Carlos Peguero, who has played in 65 games for the Mariners since 2011, denied knowledge of his wife's activity.

Photo credit: Getty

Wife of Felix Hernandez a victim of big theft by another M’s wife? [Seattle Times]