Adam Hunger/Photographer: Adam Hunger/Getty
President Donald Trump has reportedly pardoned former Major League Baseball star Darryl Strawberry for a 1995 tax evasion charge.
A White House official confirmed news outlets’ reports that Trump has approved a pardon for Strawberry, a three-time World Series champion and eight-time All-Star.
Strawberry was indicted in 1995, later pleading guilty to one federal charge of tax evasion. The crime, which involved his failure to report $350,000 in income from autographs and sales of memorabilia, carried a maximum sentence of five years. Strawberry’s plea bargain in this case ensured he avoided jail time; he served six months of home confinement and two years of probation as a result of his indictment.
Strawberry did go to prison, though: The former N.Y. Mets and L.A. Dodgers standout was sentenced to 18 months in 2002 after violating the terms of his probation related to a 1999 conviction on drug and solicitation of prostitution charges. Strawberry served 11 months.
Strawberry has been arrested more than half a dozen times on charges related to domestic violence, drugs and drug-treatment violations. In 1994, he was indicted on federal tax evasion charges and pleaded guilty to one count to avoid a prison sentence.
For many years, Strawberry has devoted himself to sobriety, Christianity — and to paying back taxes. He also helps fund a recovery center in Florida.
Strawberry is also reportedly the second alum of Trump’s former reality show, “The Celebrity Apprentice,” to receive a pardon. Trump has used his clemency powers more aggressively in his second term, pardoning more than 1,000 people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and commuting the sentence of disgraced former GOP Rep. George Santos, along with other allies.
The one-time baseball great rejoiced on Instagram at this recent development. With a gallery of himself and Trump, he posted, “Thank you, President @realdonaldtrump for my full pardon and for finalizing this part of my life, allowing me to be truly free and clean from all of my past.”
“This has nothing to do with politics,” the post concluded.
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