Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro has been accused of sexually assaulting a Chicago woman and is currently wanted for questioning in the incident.  To date, no criminal charges have been filed.

WBBM Newsradio in Chicago is reporting that the woman, who is in her 20′s, met Castro in a River North nightclub on the evening of September 29, 2011. The woman and a friend left the bar with Castro at approximately 3:00 AM and went to Castro’s apartment. At the apartment, the woman blacked out and when she woke up at approximately 5:30 AM, she says the Cubs shortstop was sexually assualting her. The woman screamed at Castro and then left the apartment. She did not seek medical attention for approximately 12 hours, at which time the police became involved.

Castro left for the Dominican Republic the day after the alleged attack and has not returned to Chicago since. When he does, police are anxious to discuss the case with him. When asked about the allegations, Castro’s agent Paul Kinzer indicated that he and his client were aware of the allegations, but had no comment.

According to the WBBM report, the police report of the incident is highly redacted. Because of that, very little information about the incident is known.

I don’t mean to downplay the criminal aspect of the allegations. In time, the facts will come out. But from a baseball standpoint, this is exactly the type of thing that could completely derail the Cubs 2012 season, which is on thin ice to begin with. Of course, if the allegations prove to be true, this could turn out to be the beginning of the end of Castro’s short but promising baseball career. I’m sure there will be much more information to come out in the following weeks.

UPDATE:  The Cubs released the following statement concerning the allegations against Starlin Castro:

“We are aware that a police report was filed regarding an incident involving Starlin, but we have received limited information. While this is something we take very seriously, there is not enough information to make any further comment or take action at this time. We are hopeful when the facts are brought to light, Starlin will be cleared of any wrongdoing.”

Then Castro’s attorneys, Jay K. Reisinger and Michael P. Gillespie,  released this statement:

“We are aware of certain allegations that have been made against our client, Starlin Castro. We have thoroughly investigated this matter, and we are confident that these allegations are baseless. Given the sensitive nature of this matter, we cannot comment any further.”

Update #2:  The original story on this matter from WBBM Newsradio in Chicago indicated that Starlin Castro is wanted by the Chicago Police in connection to this sexual assualt allegation and that when he returns to Chicago they plan on meeting with him.  Two things strike me as odd about this situation.

First, the police don’t seem to have any urgency in meeting with Castro.  If they really took the allegations seriously, it seems to me that they would have asked Castro to return to Chicago to meet with them.  Alternatively, it would not be out of the question for the police to travel to the Dominican Republic to meet with Castro and his attorney.  After all, Castro is a high profile athlete in Chicago and the police certainly don’t want to appear to be giving him special treatment if the allegations are such that they should be taken seriously.

Second, the fact is that Castro has been back to Chicago at least once since the incident took place and the police report was filed.  According to an article in the Sun-Times on November 19, 2011, Castro was in town to meet with team President Theo Epstein.*  My guess is that the Chicago P.D. is not so inept that they just let Castro waltz into town without being aware of it.

*Hat tip to commenter Vorare at The Cub Reporter for digging up the article from the Sun-Times.

There still is too little information to draw an educated conclusion, but my suspicions tell me that the police do not put much credence in the allegations.  They certainly don’t appear to be taking the case very seriously and they are in no particular rush to question the Cubs’ shortstop.