Pittsburgh Pirates' Felipe Vazquez admits to having sex with 13-year-old girl outside her home before game in 2017
Pittsburgh Pirates' All-Star closer Felipe Vazquez has admitted to having had a sexual encounter with a 13-year-old teen following his arrest on Tuesday. According to a Pennsylvania criminal complaint, Vazquez, 28, faces statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor among other charges.
The incident, that is said to have occurred in 2017 after he exchanged sexually explicit videos and images with the minor, started after he met her outside the bullpen in Pittsburgh where they snapped a photo. Following this, the victim contacted him on Instagram and he did not want to respond because she looked very young. They did, however, exchanged numbers and sexually explicit photos of each other. The two have been in contact for three years and he contacted her with a sexually explicit message as latest as of July 2019.
According to the criminal complaint released on Wednesday, Vasquez described the incident as "sex but not really, because "he could not fit his penis entirely into the victim's vagina". The victim told the police that Vasquez gave up after and left. He told her that he had to attend a game that night. The incident took place in his vehicle, a Ford Mustang at the bottom of the driveway of her home in Scottdale.
The victim had to move to Florida due to unrelated reasons with the incident and the incident was discovered by the teen's mother, said Pennsylvania State Police spokesman Stephen Limani. The mother discovered lewd pictures, videos, and texts on her phone. One of the messages from July included, "I can't wait to see you during the off-season," according to a complaint filed in Lee County, Florida.
"We are in the process of reviewing both the Pennsylvania and Florida charging documents, as well as the underlying facts of the matter," Vasquez's attorney Jay K. Reisinger and attorney Michael A. Comber said. "At this time, any comment would be premature." He was denied bail and has been placed on administrative leave. Pirates President Frank Coonelly said in a statement, "We take this matter, and these charges in particular, extremely seriously."