Former Toronto Blue Jay Roberto Alomar is no stranger to the spotlight.
But by any standards, allegations made by a former live-in girlfriend that Alomar has full-blown AIDS are shocking and sensational in the extreme.
Alomar is alleged in a lawsuit to have insisted on having unprotected sex, while claiming repeatedly that he was disease free, with ex-girlfriend Ilya Dall, 31. She makes the charges in a bombshell suit that was reported in the New York media yesterday.
In papers filed in state and federal court in New York, Dall said Alomar, 41, was told repeatedly by doctors to get tested for HIV and finally did so in January 2006. The $15 million US negligence suit alleges: “The test results of him being HIV-positive was given to him and the plaintiff on or about Feb. 6, 2006.”
The suit says that on Feb. 21, 2006, Dall observed the following symptoms: “Purple skin, too sick and weak to walk, needed to be in a wheelchair at the airport, was foaming at the mouth, couldn’t swallow, and a spinal tap proved (Alomar) was indeed suffering with full-blown AIDS.”
Alomar has not commented on the suit but his lawyer, Charles Bach, would not say whether Alomar is HIV-positive. “We believe this is a totally frivolous lawsuit,” he told the New York Daily News.
“These allegations are baseless. He’s healthy and would like to keep his health status private. We’ll do our talking in court.”
Alomar’s father, Sandy, who is a bench coach for the New York Mets told the newspaper from his winter home in Puerto Rico: “That’s the first time we ever heard of that,” adding that if his son was seriously ill, “I imagine I would know.”
“These are allegations. I know nothing more than that,” Blue Jays interim president Paul Beeston said. “We all have a great respect for his ability but also the way he carried himself within the team. If he does (have AIDS), he’d have the support of everybody and our thoughts.”
Dall’s relationship with Alomar began in 2002, according to the suit. Alomar retired in 2005. Around that time, the court papers allege, Alomar told Dall he “was raped by two Mexican men after playing a ball game in New Mexico or a southwestern state, when he was 17 years of age.”
