According to Tweets by Melissa Segura of Sports Illustrated, Rodney Fernandez has been charged with grand theft based on allegations that he stole money from Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim first baseman, Kendry Morales. More specifically, it is based on an allegation that Fernandez is linked to $300,000 magically disappearing from Morales’ bank account. Fernandez was held at the Broward County Main Jail, which is less than a mile from my office.
Rodney Fernandez used to be an agent with Hendricks Sports Management. He was briefly famous for becoming Aroldis Chapman’s agent after he fired Edwin Mejia of Athletes Premier International (API), which resulted in a lawsuit filed by API. The suit claimed that Hendricks Sports made material false and disparaging statements to Chapman concerning API and Mejia, and provided improper enticements to Chapman in an effort to make him switch to Hendricks Sports. That lawsuit was later settled for an undisclosed sum of money.
At the time that Chapman made the switch to Hendricks, many people speculated that Kendry Morales played a role in wooing Chapman to his new representatives. Not long thereafter, Morales switched to Boras Corp. Rodney Fernandez was likely a big part of Morales’ switch.
Will Fernandez attempt to take down Hendricks Sports Management with him? In February 2010, Fernandez spoke to ESPN The Magazine and stated that Randy and Alan Hendricks approved the removal of money from Morales’ bank account. Furthermore, Fernandez claimed that the money was used for “expenses related to Hendricks Sports Management.”
