Jailed Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez again seeks bail, this time over covid-19 fears

The lawyer for Felipe Vazquez on Monday filed an emergency request to secure bond for the suspended Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher who claimed he was exposed to the coronavirus last week in a Westmoreland County courthouse holding cell.

According to court documents, Vazquez, 29, contends he is at risk for covid-19 after being confined to the same cell that an inmate who was found to have tested positive for the virus occupied a day earlier.

“It is believed and therefore averred that the Westmoreland County Prison is in the early stages of covid-19 transmission among the inmates, correction officers and staff and accordingly confinement within the facility presents and unreasonable health hazard to the inmates, corrections officers and staff at the facility,” wrote defense attorney Gary Gerson.

Vazquez, who has been held at the jail since last summer following his arrest on sex charges related to an alleged relationship with a teenage girl from Scottdale, was transferred to the courthouse on July 30 for a pretrial hearing.

Gerson wrote that he and Vazquez met for about 90 minutes that morning in a holding cell located in the courthouse basement prior to the hearing before Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Mears.

That hearing was postponed, in part because of concerns about the court staff’s exposure to the virus a day earlier, Gerson said.

County prison officials last week confirmed an inmate, who had previously served time in the Fayette County jail, tested positive for coronavirus on July 29, the same day he appeared in court for a hearing before Mears. That inmate had been in quarantine at the jail and had no contact with other inmates before and after he was at the courthouse and has since been transferred back to Fayette County, Warden John Walton said last week.

Two other inmates last month tested positive for coronavirus, but both had also been confined to quarantine cells immediately upon their booking had been kept away from the jail’s general population, county officials said.

Meanwhile, Mears and his staff tested negative for covid-19 over the weekend and were at work on Monday.

Monday’s court filing was the second time Vazquez has sought his release prior to his pending trial.

Mears this spring rejected a request from Vazquez to set a bond that would allow him to await his trial at home rather than in jail.

Vazquez, who is a native of Venezuela, has said he will rent or purchase property in Westmoreland County where he can be held on house arrest prior to his trial.

In addition to two sets of charges in Westmoreland County, which also involve child pornography allegations, Vazquez is also facing sex charges in Florida and St. Louis. Authorities said charges in all three states involve incidents involving the same alleged victim.