Investigator testifies Pirates pitcher Vazquez knew Scottdale girl was 'too young'

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez, during a police interrogation at his Strip District apartment in September 2019, initially claimed he knew his teen accuser was young and told investigators her age was why he refused to communicate with her over the previous two years.

Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Michael Thompson, testifying during the second day in the sexual assault trial of the suspended All-Star pitcher, said Vazquez eventually admitted he exchanged sexually graphic pictures and texts with the now 17-year former Scottdale girl and had one sexual encounter with her in which he claimed she was the aggressor.

But, his admissions came after a series of denials, including one where he said he didn’t know the name of his accuser and as a result refused to communicate with her after she made overtures via social media.

“He said she was too young, 16 years of age or younger,” Thompson testified.

Vazquez, 29, was charged in September 2019 with statutory sexual assault, indecent assault of someone under 16, corruption of a minor and unlawful contact with a minor. Investigators say the incidents occurred in 2017, when the girl was 13 and 14.

Vazquez is facing an additional 10 counts of child pornography, 11 counts of unlawful contact with a minor and one count of corruption of a minor because police said he and the girl exchanged sexually explicit pictures and text messages.

He was charged with similar offenses in Florida, based on allegations he had a sexual relationship with the same girl after she moved there in 2018.

Police in Missouri also charged Vazquez last year with pornography offenses after investigators said he and the same girl exchanged sexually explicit messages when the pitcher was playing for the Pirates in St. Louis in 2019. The Florida and Missouri cases are pending.

He’s been in custody at the Westmoreland County Prison without bond since his arrest.

Thompson said police in Pennsylvania questioned Vazquez as for about 35 minutes as they stood around his kitchen island on Sept. 17, 2019. After those initial denials, Vazquez eventually admitted he knew the teen but said he was warned by a teammate and his sister that she was “trouble.”

Vazquez later claimed she initiated sexual advances through text messages and that he responded at least one time with his own explicit pictures because he was “bored.” Thompson told jurors Vazquez then claimed the teen was the aggressor during one in-person sexual encounter in his sports car parked in front of her Scottdale home in August 2017.

Vazquez, during a recorded interview with Florida investigators played for jurors Tuesday, claimed he was surprised to learn that his accuser was 13 when when they had sex.

“Wow,” Vazquez responded when Special Agent Orlando Esquibel of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement told him the girl’s age. “She told me she was 18. She was not even (a) virgin when that happened, so.”

His accuser testified earlier Tuesday that she lied about her age but denied the defense’s claim that she sent Vazquez a picture on the social media app Snapchat of a fake identification that listed her as approaching her 18th birthday.

“It didn’t happen,” she testified.

The teen spent more than two hours on the witnesses stand Tuesday morning, answering questions from defense attorney Gary Gerson about dozens of text messages, videos and pictures she exchanged with Vazquez over two years. She broke into tears several times during her testimony.

“Are you OK?,” Gerson asked during one exchange.

“How can I be OK? I just want to get this over with,” the teen responded.

Through his questions, Gerson suggested the teen initiated much of the sexual contact with Vazquez as a means to keep his interest and her graphic language, appearance and sexual knowledge led the pitcher to believe she was above the age of consent.

In response to questions from Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar, the teen confirmed she received numerous messages in which Vazquez referred to her as a “kid.”

The trial will continue Wednesday.