Lawyer for suspended Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez says evidence of child sex assault should be thrown out

The lawyer for suspended Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Felipe Vazquez said evidence collected by police during an investigation into sexual assault allegations were the product of an illegal search and should be barred from use by prosecutors in an upcoming trial.

Vazquez, 28, has been in jail since September, when he was arrested in Pittsburgh and charged by police in Florida and Westmoreland County with having improper sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl in Scottdale in 2017 and two years later with the same alleged victim after she moved to Florida.

In court documents filed Thursday, defense attorney Gary Gerson said police officers used a key without consent to gain entrance to Vazquez’s Pittsburgh home while other investigators questioned him in another part of the residence last September.

Police obtained search warrants for the home and for Vazquez’s phone and laptop computer but Gerson claims that request was too broad.

“Both of the search warrants … authorized a general search and seizure of all data was overly broad, constituted nothing more than a mere fishing expedition that would permit (police) to rummage through and seize an entire set of items or images many of which would prove unrelated to the crime or crimes under investigation,” Gerson wrote.

According to court records, police found pictures of Vazquez and his accuser in states of undress and performing sex acts. Text messages also were found that suggested a sexual liaison between the pitcher and the teen.

The defense’s motion suggested that, as part of the investigation, police conducted a “pretextual” traffic stop outside PNC Park on Sept. 6, 2019, to obtain Vazquez’s address and telephone number.

Gerson also asked a judge to bar from evidence a statement Vazquez gave to police, claiming it was improperly obtained. Vazquez, a native of Venezuela, struggled with understanding English, was in police custody when questioned and did not have an opportunity to contact a lawyer.

Vazquez is being held without bond in the Westmoreland County Prison as he awaits his trial, which has yet to be scheduled. He is charged with statutory sexual assault and other offenses and in a separate filing was charged with additional counts of possession of child pornography and unlawful contact with a minor.

Vazquez is facing similar charges in Florida based on allegations from the same victim. Earlier this year, the pitcher was charged in St. Louis sending pornographic pictures of himself to the same teen while he was in that city.

He is scheduled to appear July 9 before Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Mears for a pretrial hearing.