Southington police have searched the home of a high school classmate of Minnesota Twins pitcher Carl Pavano while investigating an alleged extortion attempt against Pavano.
According to the search warrant affidavit, Pavano's family told police that Christian Bedard, 36, of Southington tried to extort money and a navy Range Rover with tan leather by threatening to publicly reveal a three-year "emotional and physical relationship" he claims the two had when they were teens.
Southington police seized a laptop and journal from Bedard's home last week, but have not charged him.
Pavano's sister provided police with printouts from her Facebook page that included posts from Bedard, according to court documents.
She said claims about a relationship with her brother are false and asked Bedard to stop posting false accusations, according to documents from police, but he continued. When she contacted police, she said she was concerned about Bedard and feared for her safety and that of her family.
Bedard posted on Pavano's sister's Facebook page that he had a book deal in place worth $1.2 million and that t could go away if Pavano bought him the car, according to court documents.
Bedard calls Pavano his "first love."
Local
"I have a seriously juicy book offer," Bedard posted, according to the documents. He claimed he had a deal for a book called "Left Out in Left Field" and he wanted something out of it if he was going to drop a $1.2 million book deal.
The only way Pavano was "getting out of this" was with a heart-felt apology and the car, he said, according to documents.
The posts began on Dec. 18 2011, according to the search warrant affidavit and Pavano’s sister went to police on Dec. 30.
In an email to the Associated Press, Bedard said he didn't attempt to extort money from Pavano. He said DeGennaro contacted him first on Facebook to ask him not to talk about the relationship. He said he told her he wanted an apology, but was joking about the car.
Calls to the Pavano family and the Minnesota Twins were not returned Thursday.
