Sports

Girlfriend of Reds’ Chapman charged with lying to cops

PITTSBURGH — The girlfriend of Cincinnati Reds pitcher Aroldis Chapman has been charged for lying to Pittsburgh detectives about a robbery inside the star left-hander’s hotel room.

Claudia Manrique was charged with a misdemeanor count of filing a false report to law enforcement after she came clean about the alleged break-in last month, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Thursday.

Manrique, 26, initially told investigators she was accosted by a crook posing as a maintenance worker at the Omni William Penn Hotel on May 29 while Chapman was sitting in the bullpen at PNC Park watching his teammates battle the Pirates.

But police say her story began to change after hours of talking to detectives. Eventually, Manrique, who works as a stripper, admitted she encountered the man earlier in the day and that he threatened to harm a female friend in Maryland if she did not tell him where she was staying.

Manrique then admitted she willingly let the man into the room before he made his escape with about $6,000 worth of Chapman’s items, including jewelry, clothing and a computer.

Hotel security was alerted to the heist after guests discovered Manrique tied up with cloth napkins and screaming for help.

Chapman, 24, told police that Manrique, whom he began dating in April, had been acting strange and receiving calls from a man in Maryland after the couple met up in Pittsburgh. He also said she apparently owed $9,000 on a $30,000 debt that helped her gain entry into the country.

Manrique was charged in March for stealing between $1,000 and $10,000 from a male acquaintance’s bank account, according to the Post-Gazette.