Dustin Pedroia's Brother Arrested on Child Molestation Charges

The 2008 season was a great one for Dustin Pedroia. The 5-foot-9 second baseman became just the eighth player in American League history to win the MVP, a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger in the same season, while also being the first second baseman to win the MVP since Nellie Fox in 1959. The only thing that could have made the year better would have been a second consecutive World Series title, but alas the Sawx fell short in the ALCS against the Rays, though it was no fault of Dustin's.

Unfortunately for Pedroia, the calendar year of 2009 hasn't started out very well. While Pedroia himself hasn't had any problems, his older brother Brett has gotten himself in a bit of trouble. Earlier this month Brett turned himself into the Woodland, Calif. police on child molestation chargers.

According to the Woodland Police Department, Brett Pedroia was taken into custody Jan. 9 on a probable cause warrant for two counts of oral copulation and lewd acts with a child under the age of 14, all felonies.

The alleged victim recently told his parent about the incidents from four years ago, a statement from Woodland police said.

Brett Pedroia, 30, was booked and later released on $50,000 bail. He was working in his family's tire store Saturday, but he said he had no comment.

FanHouse's very own Tom Ziller, who wrote about this story at The Sporting Blog, lives in the same neighborhood as the Pedroia family in suburban Sacramento and he says the Pedroias are like royalty there. Residents of the area are having a hard time believing that Brett would be capable of doing something like this, but crazier things have happened.

Whether the charges are true or not, you have to figure Dustin's going to have a lot on his mind when he heads to Florida for Spring Training in a couple of months.