Foster Home License Revoked by State

State officials have revoked the license of a Lancaster man and his wife to operate a foster home after two of the man’s daughters said he sexually molested them.

In addition, officials removed a 3 1/2-year-old girl from the home of Francisco and Angie Velazquez, who were licensed to care for two foster children. The Velazquezes had been in the process of adopting the girl.

The action by the state Department of Social Services was prompted by allegations by Francisco Velazquez’s two daughters from a previous marriage that he had fondled them sexually.

The girls often stayed in the Velazquez home on weekends and vacations.

The older of the girls said that her father, a house painter, fondled her beginning in 1987, when she was 8, and that the abuse continued for three years.

Angie Velazquez, in an interview Monday, denied that her husband molested the children. She said the girls were prompted to make the allegations by his ex-wife, who was jealous of the girls’ close relationship with their father.

Monica L. Becerra-Rico, an attorney for the state Department of Social Services who handled the case, said she was convinced that the girls were telling the truth about the molestation.