(CN) - A woman claims in a court document filed in an ongoing defamation lawsuit that former Major League Baseball star Pete Rose had sex with her in the 1970s when she was below the age of consent.
Rose sued attorney John Dowd last year for allegedly suggesting Rose had had sex with underaged girls. Rose has denied that allegation.
But in a court document filed in Philadelphia federal court on Monday, Dowd's attorney has produced a signed declaration from one woman who says Rose had sex with her when she was below the age of 16.
The declaration is dated February 7, 2017, and all personal information about the woman has been redacted to protect her identity
In 1973, Rose was 34 years old and allegedly involved in an ongoing sexual relationship with an unidentified girl who claims to have been 14 or 15 years old.
Rose, formerly known as, "Charlie Hustle," was a former professional baseball player and manager, who played in the MLB from 1963 to 1986 for the Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies, and managed the Cincinnati Reds from 1984 to 1989.
John Dowd, a Washington DC attorney, investigated Rose on behalf of Major League Baseball in the 1980's over allegations that the sports icon bet on baseball.
In August 1989, MLB Commissioner Bartlett Giamatti permanently banned Rose from baseball -- and eligibility to the Baseball Hall of Fame -- for violating Major League Rule 21, regarding betting.
In 2004, Rose admitted to betting on baseball when he was manager of the Cincinnati Reds, but he continued to deny allegations that he bet on his own team, either while managing or during his playing years.
Rose has repeatedly applied for reinstatement to the game, but Major League Baseball has rebuffed him every time, most recently in 2015.
According to court documents, Dowd allegedly stated during an interview on WCHE, a West Chester, Pennsylvania sports radio station, that Rose's former bookie told investigators that "he not only ran bets, but [also] he ran young girls" for Rose during spring training.
The lawsuit claims Dowd the said the bookie claimed the girls were ages 12 to 14 at the time.
"So that’s statutory rape every time you do that," Dowd said, according to the lawsuit. Those alleged statements prompted Rose's lawsuit.
The court motion filed Monday is a motion to compel answers to multiple sets of questions posed by Dowd's attorneys.
In the declaration included in the motion, the woman, identified as "Jane Doe" asserts she had a sexual relationship with Rose that began in 1975 and lasted "for many years."
Jane Doe asserts that she had a sexual relationship with Rose that lasted "for many years" and begin in 1973 when she was "14 or 15" years old.
Dowd says Rose admitted to the relationship in March 29, 2017 court filing.
Rose, who was 34 and married at the time, purportedly said he did have a sexual relationship with the young woman, but that it didn’t start until she was 16. He also allegedly said they never had sex outside of the Cincinnati area.
The age of consent in Ohio is 16.
The federal filing asked that Rose provide information about other women with whom he had affairs, but Rose and his lawyers have refused to provide any answers or discovery.
Rose's attorney, Ray Genco of Genco Law in Boston Massachusetts told The Philadelphia Enquirer Monday that the filing is merely "a media distraction."
Dowd and his attorneys declined to comment.
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