| Troy Neel | |
|---|---|
| Designated hitter / First baseman | |
| Born: September 14, 1965 Freeport, Texas |
|
| Batted: Left | Threw: Right |
| MLB debut | |
| May 30, 1992 for the Oakland Athletics | |
| Last MLB appearance | |
| August 11, 1994 for the Oakland Athletics | |
| Career statistics | |
| Batting average | .280 |
| Home runs | 37 |
| Runs batted in | 120 |
| Teams | |
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Troy Lee Neel (born September 14, 1965 in Freeport, Texas) is a former professional baseball player who played in the major leagues for the Oakland Athletics primarily as a first baseman and designated hitter from 1992-1994. He also had a successful baseball career in Japan for the Orix BlueWave, playing for them for six seasons from 1995 until 2000.
In 2000, Neel was ordered by the State of Texas to pay $5000 a month in child support to his ex-wife and mother of his two children. Instead of paying, Neel fled the country, remarried, and purchased a small island in Vanuatu, where he and his new wife run a 21-room resort overlooking a lagoon.[1] He now owes over $725,000 in child support.[2] His passport expired in 2008 and Vanuatu authorities forced him to leave the country. On December 11, 2008, Neel was arrested at the Los Angeles International Airport by U.S. Health and Human Services investigators after he got off a plane from Sydney, Australia; he awaits trial in San Antonio, Texas.[1]
In 2005, a grand jury in San Antonio indicted Neel on a charge of foreign travel to evade child support obligations. Neel, is accused of leaving the U.S. to avoid paying more than $725,000 in child support in Texas. Neel remains in federal custody in San Antonio. [3]
On May 7, 2009 Neel was scheduled to plead guilty in court to avoiding over $700,000 in child support payments. Neel now faces as much as two years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. [1]