Pirates pitcher testified teen accuser sent him fake ID to make him believe she was of age

Suspended Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez told a Westmoreland County jury Wednesday that he religiously sought confirmation of the 50 woman he met online to ensure they were above the age of consent during the two years prosecutors said he conducted a sexual relationship with a teenager.

Vazquez, 29, served as the defense’s first witness in the third day of his sexual assault and child pornography trial after the prosecution rested its case against the former All-Star relief pitcher.

Vazquez 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. He is also charged with 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.

Vazquez, wearing a blue suit and sporting glasses, told jurors his routine was to ask women for proof of their age before engaging with them online and in person. He then described how his accuser made contact with him through Instagram and spent days seeking a response from him after she wished him a happy birthday in July 2017. Vazquez testified the girl claimed be 17 and nearing her 18th birthday.

“I needed to know how old she was. I wanted to make sure she was that age,” Vazquez told jurors. A few days later she sent him through social media a picture of her Pennsylvania driver’s license that showed her age as 18, he claimed. “I kind of relaxed a little so I could talk to her.”

The teen denied sending Vazquez a picture of a fake identification card during her testimony earlier this week.

Vazquez, who was on the witnesses stand for about an hour, testified about his upbringing in Venezuela, told jurors he dropped out of school after the sixth grade and outlined his baseball career that began with the Tampa Bay Rays organization in 2008 and a subsequent trades to the Washington Nationals and the Pirates in 2016.

Responding to questions from defense attorney Gary Gerson, Vazquez told jurors his marriage fell apart shortly after he was traded to Pittsburgh. He said over the next two years he had text relationships with the Scottdale teen as well as dozens of other women with whom he shared sexually explicit messages and images.

“I like young women in their 20s, close to that age,” Vazquez said, noting he believed his accuser had the physical attributes he desired in female acquaintances.

He claimed the teen initiated much of their early communications, which over the next several weeks that followed his birthday greeting became increasingly sexual and prompted him to ask her to send a picture.

“We had been talking about all this naughty stuff, so I wanted to see what she looked like,” Vazquez testified.

Vazquez will continue his testimony when the trial reconvenes Thursday.

Earlier Wednesday, dozens of sexually explicit pictures and videos exchanged between Vazquez and a teenage girl were displayed to jurors.

Judge Scott Mears cleared the courtroom for the testimony from state police computer forensics expert Matthew Haslett, who, along with Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar, read a series of graphic text messages and displayed images including some described as showing both Vazquez and the now 17-year-old girl in various stages of undress and performing sex acts.

Prosecutors contend the teen was 13 when she and Vazquez had sex in his car parked outside her Scottdale home in August 2017. They exchanged sexually explicit pictures and videos when the girl 14 and 15 years old, according to police.

Trial watchers — which included family members of the victim and Vazquez, along with reporters — were moved to a satellite courtroom, where a video stream was shown that focused on the witnesses stand. The images shown to jurors were not broadcast outside of Mears’ courtroom.

Haslett testified the images displayed in court Wednesday were taken from a laptop police recovered from Vazquez’s home just before he was arrested in September 2019. The messages were from a string of text conversations between Vazquez and the girl from August 2018, after she had moved to Florida with her parents, and through June 2019.

Vazquez has been held at Westmoreland County Prison without bond since his arrest. He also faces similar charges 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.