Controversy continues for Little League ace

Associated Press

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Danny Almonte's father was charged yesterday with falsifying a birth certificate to make his son appear to be 12 when he actually was 14 — and thus too old for Little League.

Felipe de Jesus Almonte "will be arrested as soon as he sets foot in this country," said Victor Romero, a public-records official in the Dominican Republic who determined the young pitcher's real age.

De Jesus, who is still in New York, faces three to five years in jail if convicted.

Also yesterday, school officials said Almonte was finishing seventh grade in the Dominican Republic up to June — another reason he should not have qualified for Little League championships.

Almonte finished seventh grade June 15 at the Andres Bello Primary School, said Bolivar de Luna Gomez, vice principal of the school in Moca, a small farming town 90 miles north of Santo Domingo.

That would have prevented Almonte from playing the required six Little League games to qualify for the championships.

"We can't lie," Gomez told The Associated Press. "He was here and the records show this."

The New York team was stripped of its third-place finish in the World Series after Almonte's real age was revealed Friday.

Little League also voided all of Almonte's records, including a perfect game.