Mom during molestation trial: 'I believed my girls, and I was scared that he was going to kill me'

The mother of two girls who have accused a former Naples police officer of molesting them testified Tuesday and detailed the tense moments when she found out about the allegations.

Ricardo Vazquez Jr.’s trial started Monday with jury selection and testimony from the two teenage girls. 

He faces three counts of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child who is 12 years of age or older but younger than 16 and one count of lewd or lascivious molestation of a child younger than 12, according to court documents.

If convicted on all counts, Vazquez Jr. could face up to life in prison.

More:Two girls testify at molestation trial of ex-Naples cop

More:Former Naples Police officer goes on trial Monday on molestation charges

The mother, whom the Daily News is not identifying to protect the identities of the underage victims, told the jury Tuesday that she received a text from her father in March 2016, telling her he needed to speak to her and that she needed to be alone.

The mother waited until Vazquez Jr. left the room and then spoke to her father by phone. He told her that one of her daughters had disclosed to her grandparents alleged episodes of Vazquez Jr. inappropriately touching her. 

“From information that I learned on the phone, I got scared because I could hear Mr. Vazquez ... and I knew he was coming back around the corner,” she said. “So I immediately told (my father) I had to hang up.”

The mother said she thought the safest time to talk to her daughters — who were staying with relatives — would be the next morning. 

“I was in shock,” she said. “So I hid in the laundry room for the entire night.”

The next day, the mother testified, she left the house, telling Vazquez Jr. she needed to run an errand. She grabbed her youngest child and met the two girls at a relative’s condo. 

There, she spoke with the two girls about the allegations, the mother said.

The older of the two girls "was very upset,” the mother said. “And she was crying, and she just kept saying that she was sorry.”

Prosecutors say Vazquez Jr. inappropriately touched the two young girls on multiple occasions over a period of several years.

The alleged touching began when one of the girls was 10 and the other 12, prosecutors said.

The mother during cross-examination Tuesday was asked by one of Vazquez Jr.’s defense attorneys why she didn’t confront Vazquez Jr. when she learned of the allegations.

“Because I believed my girls, and I was scared that he was going to kill me,” she said.

Vazquez Jr., dressed in a blue button-down shirt and tie, sat next to his defense attorneys and listened to the testimony, at one point bursting into tears.

He has been in custody since his March 2016 arrest.

Defense attorneys argued in opening statements Monday that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove the alleged crimes and said the girls didn’t like Vazquez Jr. and wanted to get rid of him.

Jurors on Tuesday also heard from the lead investigator on the case and listened to an audio recording of an interview the investigator had conducted with Vazquez Jr. shortly after the allegations were made.

In the more than an hourlong interview, Vazquez Jr. can be heard talking to the detective and denying that anything inappropriate occurred.

Vazquez Jr., 39, was arrested in March 2016 after the two girls — 14 and 12 at the time of Vazquez Jr.’s arrest — told investigators he had inappropriately touched them on multiple occasions over several years.

Vazquez Jr. was a police officer for Naples between November 2005 and December 2010. He worked as a patrol officer. He resigned voluntarily, according to the city's human resources department.

Vazquez Jr. then worked for Collier County as a utility technician from May 2013 until March 2016 when he was dismissed for personal conduct.