Urbina denies attack
Police: Pitcher used machete on ranch workers ‘Everything will be cleared up soon,’ jailed reliever says
CARACAS, VENEZUELA—
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Ugueth Urbina is being held in connection with a machete attack on his ranch workers.
Last month, Urbina and a group of men allegedly attacked five workers with machetes and poured gasoline on them in an attempt to set them on fire. All five were injured, some of them with cuts and one with burns on the back and right arm, police said.
Urbina, being held pending a formal charge of attempted murder, insisted he had nothing to do with the violence at his family’s ranch Oct. 16.
“ Everything will be cleared up soon and people will know the truth,” Urbina said from his cell. “ Right now we aren’t going to do anything to deny things that aren’t true.’’ The authorities said Urbina would be formally charged once he appears before a judge.
Urbina’s lawyer, Jose Luis Tamayo, said the pitcher was sleeping at the time of the incident and was not involved. He said the pitcher surprised the workers by showing up at the ranch that night while they were bathing in the pool without permission. He said Urbina spoke sharply to them, but later left and went to sleep. One victim, Argenis Farias, has accused Urbina of being among the attackers.
Urbina was traded from Detroit to Philadelphia in the middle of last season. The reliever became a free agent after the season ended.
“ This, of course, can in some way hurt his career as a professional ballplayer, and all will depend on the way in which he is brought before justice,” Tamayo said.
Urbina was with his mother and other relatives late Monday at another of Urbina’s homes on the outskirts of Caracas when the police came with an arrest warrant, Tamayo said. He called the arrest “ inexplicable.’’
“ Aside from whether a person is guilty of a crime or not, if there is no danger of flight or obstruction of justice, that person has a right to be tried while free,” Tamayo said. The lawyer said Urbina has cooperated with the authorities all along, noting he has come to the police voluntarily to provide testimony.
Phillies spokeswoman Leigh Tobin said the team had no immediate comment because it had just learned of the arrest. The violence broke out at the ranch house where Urbina’s mother, Maura Villareal, lives about 40 kilometres south of Caracas. Police initially said the violence broke out in a dispute over a handgun.
This was the second violent incident in a little more than a year for the Urbina family. Urbina’s mother was kidnapped by drug traffickers in September 2004 and held for a $6 million ( U. S.) ransom. She was rescued five months later in a mountainous zone in southern Venezuela. The authorities described her captors as Venezuelan and Colombian drug traffickers.