The lawyer for former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez said 11 criminal charges related to allegations that he and a teenage girl exchanged sexually explicit text messages should be dismissed over jurisdictional issues.

In court documents filed this week, defense attorney Gary Gerson said those charges related to alleged crimes that occurred while neither Vazquez nor his juvenile accuser were in Pennsylvania. Vazquez, according to the defense, was with the Pirates in St. Louis while his accuser was living in Florida when the alleged text messages were exchanged, according to Gerson.

“There are no allegations in this case that defendant attempted or conspired outside Pennsylvania to commit an offense in Pennsylvania, nor is it alleged that he conspired within Pennsylvania to commit a crime outside the state,” Gerson wrote.

Vazquez is accused of having improper sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl in Scottdale in 2017 and two years later with the same girl after she moved to Florida. He also is charged with pornography offenses after police found pictures of the teen in his possession and sexually explicit photographs of him on her cellphone.

In all, police in Pennsylvania charged Vazquez with 25 counts associated with those allegations said to have occurred over two years, ending in 2019. Vazquez has been held in the county jail without bond since his arrest in September 2019.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Mears heard testimony last summer on a defense request seeking to dismiss all charges against Vazquez based on claims that challenged the validity of a police interrogation and search of a personal cellphone. Mears has not ruled on that defense motion. On Wednesday, he said he will schedule another hearing to consider the new legal challenge.

Vazquez has maintained his innocence. He testified for about two hours during a pretrial hearing last summer in which he refuted police claims he confessed. He also denied having any personal contact with his accuser and allegations he met her outside of her Scottdale home and had sex with her in his car.

Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar said there is no merit to Vazquez’s latest legal challenge.

“We believe our charges relate to conduct that occurred while he and the (girl) were in Pennsylvania,” Lazar said.

Charges against Vazquez related to similar allegations made by the same girl were filed by prosecutors in Florida and Missouri. Those are still pending.

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