SF Giants' player accused to stealing from Vineland car dealership

Heralded as a hometown hero, San Francisco Giants centerfielder Darren Ford returned to Vineland, N.J., on Friday to collect accolades and the key to the city.

On Monday, prosecutors in nearby Bridgeton wanted to talk to the major leaguer, who's praised for his ability to steal bases, about some money missing from his former job.

Cumberland County prosecutors filed an accusation against Ford, charging him in a theft from his former employer, a chain of South Jersey Chevrolet dealers.

Although declining to specify the amount stolen, authorities gave a ballpark figure of about $2,300.

Ford also was charged with filing a false report and obstructing an investigation. He has applied for a pretrial intervention program that is available to first-time offenders and could result in expungement of his record.

"Pretrial intervention does not entail any kind of admission of any wrongdoing," said Ford's attorney, Hank Hockeimer of Ballard Spahr.

Months before his first-ever major-league game on Sept. 1 - in which he stole home to score the winning run for the Giants and helped propel his team into the World Series - Ford had an off-season job with the RK Auto Group in Vineland.

On Nov. 18 of last year, his employers entrusted him with a wad of cash and checks to deposit at a local bank. Shortly after noon, Ford called police to report that he had been robbed at gunpoint, prosecutors said.

He told detectives that he had first made a stop at the Department of Motor Vehicles. There, he told police, a black or Hispanic male walked up to him in the parking lot and leveled a double-barreled shotgun at him.

Ford said the gunman had demanded he turn over all his belongings. Ford handed over a cell phone, $300 in cash, and the bank deposit bag, he said. Ford offered no other details about the gunman or the gunman's vehicle. Crime Stoppers posted a $1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the gunman.

Baseball resumed. Ford was transferred from the Giants farm team in San Jose to play center field for San Francisco's AA team in Richmond, Va., the Flying Squirrels.

In Vineland, it was investigators who were striking out, and detectives were growing suspicious of Ford's account.

In March, Ford won the Harry S. Jordan award, given annually to the Giants' best player in his first big-league training camp. During the season, he amassed a record 37 stolen bases, the second highest in the double-A Eastern League.

By June in Vineland, investigators were reasonably sure no robbery had happened, police said.

Detectives called Major League Baseball just before charging Ford on July 2. MLB told Ford to surrender before the Squirrels' series against the Trenton Thunder. Ford was released on a summons.

Two months later, he was called up to the majors and hailed as one of the fastest men in baseball. Though Ford was added to the roster too late to play in the 2010 postseason, he was awarded a World Series ring.

On Monday, Ford waived his right to have the criminal charges presented to a grand jury and applied for the pretrial intervention that could clear him of the charges, said Harold B. Shapiro, the acting Cumberland County prosecutor.

Under the program, Shapiro said, Ford would be required to make restitution of the missing cash.

"A guilty plea is not necessary," Shapiro said. "If he's accepted, and the program is completed, the defendant would not have a record of a criminal conviction."

A spokesman for the Giants said Monday that Ford remains on the roster and is expected at 2011 spring training.