Molesting case moves to federal court

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Updated: February 8, 2012 4:47PM

An East Chicago man charged two years ago in Lake County molesting a 7-year-old relative is now facing charges in federal court in the same case.

Dante Christopher Vasquez, who was 42 when he was originally arrested in April 2010, was ordered on Wednesday to be held in custody pending a detention and probable cause hearing scheduled for Thursday morning at the U.S. District Court in Hammond, according to court records.

Vasquez was first charged in February 2010 after the parents of his alleged victim, a girl, wondered why she started to cry when they tried to take her picture in January 2010, according to a complaint. When they asked the girl, she responded that Vasquez had taken pictures of her naked, the complaint said.

Police interviewed the girl, and she told them that Vasquez also had her perform oral sex on him and touched her in other sexual ways. He told her if she didn’t participate, according to the complaint, that he wouldn’t take her to Chuck E. Cheese.

The girl’s mother, who lives in Hammond, said Vasquez had watched the girl many times.

The complaint said a search of Vasquez’s computer showed multiple images of child pornography, including some of the victim and some of other prepubescent girls. The pictures of the victim that police found appear to be taken in his home, the complaint says.

His federal court-appointed attorney, Paul Stracci, said he had just received the case and had no comment.

Vasquez had been released on bond in 2010 after the Lake County charge was filed and he was ordered to not contact the victim. Barbara McConnell, deputy chief prosecutor for Lake County, said that her department is still in talks with federal prosecutors about which agency will ultimately move forward with the case. Although no federal indictment had been filed as of Wednesday afternoon, the pending charge was using a camera made in China to take the child pornography images.