Ex LA Dodgers slugger faces jail as police guard courthouse

San Cristobal, DominicanRepublic.- Dozens of Police agents stand guard near San Cristobal´s courthouse wherea judge in a hearing set for 10am Friday will decide whether to set bond or incarcerateRaul Mondesi, former Los Angeles Dodges slugger and mayor of the southern city.

It will be the fourthtime the former major leaguer faces a judge, together with City Councilofficials and codefendants Pedro Cordero Valverde, Araujo Capa, Antonio deJesus Ferreira Guzman, and Edward Vianelo Pontier.

During the hearing ofthe hearing, the prosecution had refused to be postponed because this has beenpostponed four times for the same reasons.

Mondesí andcodefendants are charged with embezzling more than RD$200 million in City Hall funds.

The deployment of police agents is apparently on concern of a repeat of a hearing in June, when Mondesi arrived with at the counrthouse with a crowd of supporters.