It’s not often we can write about the Pittsburgh Pirates, because, well quite frankly writing about how poorly managed a once proud franchise is, can be grating. So it’s always fun when get to a juicy story involving one of the players of a down-trodden franchise. Especially when you hear about said player being in a Harold and Maude-esque relationship. It’s even more fun when the Maude in the situation is arrested. And it’s loads of fun when she’s arrested for stealing someone’s baby. Enter one of the Pirates top prospects, Jose Tabata, and his lovely wife, Amalia Tabata Pereira.
It’s not often we can write about the Pittsburgh Pirates, because, well quite frankly writing about how poorly managed a once proud franchise is, can be grating. So it’s always fun when get to a juicy story involving one of the players of a down-trodden franchise. Especially when you hear about said player being in a Harold and Maude-esque relationship. It’s even more fun when the Maude in the situation is arrested. And it’s loads of fun when she’s arrested for stealing someone’s baby. Enter one of the Pirates top prospects, Jose Tabata, and his lovely wife, Amalia Tabata Pereira.
Good stories take time to develop and this one started nearly a year ago. The 43 year old Pereira told the then-19 year old Tabata that he was going to be a father. Only problem with that was that she was not pregnant. According to Jose's own words, "She completely falsified her pregnancy and the eventual birth of a baby girl, which would have made me a father for the first time."
So, you have a false preganancy and a fake birth, great. But eventually, daddy is going to want to meet his daughter. Well, Pereira needed a baby, so what better way to get one than to pose an immigration official and go to the local clinic and tell an immigrant mother she would get deported if she didn't give Pereira the baby right away. Out of fear, the mother didn't report her daughter was abducted until several hours after she was taken.
Tabata met the girl he believed to be his daughter later that day. Afterwards, an Amber Alert was triggered and an anonymous tipster reported seeing the baby with Pereira in a shopping center. Pereira was arrested and has since pled guilty to the charges in this case. Jose then learned more about his wife than he had ever known, including the fact that she had stolen $20,000 from an old job and then burned the place down to cover it up. And that she allegedly has a bad gambling problem. And that she'd done jail time. Lots of jail time. And that she… well, the list goes on and on.
Tabata has been cleared by local law enforcement in any wrong doing in this situation and has been assigned to Double-A Altoona. Far, far away from his baby-stealing wife. In his words, "I will never be able to forgive her for her cruel actions." With any luck he's going to be able to get past all this soon, but in the mean time, the 20 year old prospect is going to have a lot on his mind other than baseball.
