Somehow, Eddie W. Rivera wormed his way into the Seattle Mariners clubhouse and befriended a down-home athlete from Spiro, Okla., a town of about 2,100.
That friendship mushroomed into an alleged scam that left investors and local businesses reeling, and major league baseball players and agents disavowing Rivera.
The befriended athlete was pitcher Ryan Franklin, who Rivera set up with promotional opportunities at a local auto dealership.
Baseball agent Jay Franklin, Ryan Franklin’s older brother, said the relationship with a name baseball player was crucial to Rivera getting anywhere with whatever plans he had.
As a former business partner and employee of Rivera, Jay Franklin said Wednesday he’s not sure exactly what those plans might have been.
Jay Franklin is pleased now that Rivera is sitting in the Snohomish County Jail after his arrest this week for investigation of six counts of first-degree theft.
Court documents accuse Rivera of using $146,000 of his sports management company’s money to pay his personal expenses, and of not following through on promises, costing businesses and an inventor tens of thousands of dollars.
"All I can say is if you’re an honest-to-good person, stay away from him," Jay
Franklin said in a telephone interview.
He said after meeting his athlete brother, Rivera flew to Oklahoma and convinced Jay Franklin that he headed a big company and had the wherewithal to start a major sports management business.
Jay Franklin, who once worked for noted player-agent Scott Boras, was told that Rivera had previously represented Hollywood personalities and wanted to switch to baseball athletes.
"For a guy on the outside, it’s a hard family to get involved in," Jay Franklin, a former minor league pitcher, said of the greater baseball community. "You have to know someone. Eddie snowed my brother and convinced others that he was an upstanding, reputable citizen."
Rivera showed up at places with Franklin in tow and lunched with other Mariners, including catcher Ben Davis. He then told owners of car dealerships and other businesses that he represented a cadre of Mariners.
Not so, Jay Franklin said. Rivera set up a promotional deal for his brother with an auto dealership, and arranged a car dealership promotion for Benji Gil, a former Anaheim
Angel. However, Gil said he was never paid for his endorsements, court documents say.
Rivera already was charged in Snohomish County Superior Court with nine counts of theft in an unrelated 2001incident. Jay Franklin said he never learned about those charges until he became seriously concerned about Rivera’s activities and began his own investigation.
Someone at a local bank showed Jay Franklin a newspaper clipping concerning Rivera’s pending theft charges.
It was the Franklins and Jay Franklin’s friend Jeff Frye, another investor, who brought Rivera’s sports management activities to the attention of Snohomish County sheriff’s detective Matt Trafford and deputy prosecutor Jim Townsend.
It was Trafford who filed a 16-page court affidavit outlining what he knows about Rivera’s activities.
Townsend said he expects to file new charges related to the sports management activities as early as Monday.
"He’s very, very smooth," Townsend said of Rivera. "He got into the clubhouse one day and talked himself into Ryan’s good graces."
Little harm was done to the players, although Gil did lose some money and Ryan Franklin, 30, was forced to purchase a car he didn’t want after Rivera egged him into signing a purchase agreement, Jay Franklin said.
The chore for Jay Franklin, 35, now is not only to tell what he knows but to restore his own reputation after being associated with Rivera. He said Rivera’s notoriety is spreading throughout Major League Baseball. All the while, Jay Franklin and Frye are now involved in their own sports promotion business, Franklin, Frye and Associates.
"I can only honestly tell you I don’t think he told the truth about anything," Jay Franklin said of Rivera.
Jay Franklin, who now lives in Arkansas, said he learned a lesson from the experience with Rivera.
"I think anytime you’ve got a guy like Eddie come and want you to buy into his scheme, you need to check him out thoroughly," Jay Franklin said.
He and his brother were the bait used to attract other ballplayers and businesses interested in promoting their products, he added.
"That’s what we get for being from Oklahoma and living in small towns," Jay Franklin said.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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