A Riverhead man was arrested on public lewdness and endangering the welfare of a child charges Friday night, Riverhead Town Police said in a press release yesterday.
Police said Martin Cruz Vazquez, 50, exposed himself to a 13-year-old girl as she walked home from school on the afternoon of Dec. 4. He then left the scene in a dark-colored SUV. The child did not report the incident.
On Friday at about 3 p.m. the girl sought the assistance of a Riverhead police officer who was handling a school crossing post near Pulaski Street and Osborn Avenue, police said. She reported that a man operating a dark-colored SUV seemed to be following her as she walked south on Osborn Avenue, then stopped the vehicle in front of her, got out and approached her. She became nervous and went to the officer at the school crossing post, explained what happened and told the officer she recognized the man from an incident a week earlier.
The girl was “immediately transported to the Riverhead Police Department where she was met by her mother,” police said in a press release. Riverhead Police detectives began an investigation and the child told them about the Dec. 4 incident, police said.
The man was identified as Cruz Vazquez, police said, and he was located at his residence and placed under arrest at about 7 p.m. that night.
Cruz Vazquez was transported to Riverhead Police Department headquarters, where he was processed on charges of Public Lewdness in the First Degree and Endangering the Welfare of a Minor, both class A misdemeanors, according to the report. He was held overnight for arraignment.
Police ask anyone having information regarding this or any similar incident to contact the Riverhead Police Department at 631-727-4500.
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