Edwin Vargas, via Steve Keeley of Fox 29 News.
We first reported on Edwin Vargas on January 25th, but missed this story in The Philadelphia Inquirer:
North Philadelphia man charged with four homicides, terrorizing a woman, police say
Edwin Vargas, 24, has been charged with multiple shootings, including a high-profile triple homicide in Mayfair earlier this month.
by Ellie Rushing | Wednesday, January 25, 2023
A North Philadelphia man has been charged with committing a spate of shootings this month that left four people dead and a young woman terrorized, law enforcement officials said Wednesday. . . . .
Officials said the shootings were connected and domestic in nature, and stemmed from Vargas’ obsession with a young woman he had been stalking and terrorizing over the course of multiple days.
Court records show that these incidents were not the first time Vargas had shot at someone, and that he’s spent the entirety of his adult life — and at least a portion of his childhood — in and out of jail.
That’s the part you already knew. But further down was this:
Records show Vargas entered the justice system as a teen, when in 2013, at just 15 years old, he was arrested for a drug crime.
In 2016, just a few months after turning 18, he was convicted of illegally possessing a gun with an obliterated serial number. He was sentenced to up to 23 months in jail, plus five years’ probation.
Then, in January 2020, Vargas was charged with aggravated assault and illegal gun possession, after video showed he shot at someone multiple times in Kensington, according to court records. No one was injured.
He was convicted in that shooting and sentenced to up to 23 months in jail, plus three years’ probation, with required mental health supervision.
Vargas was released in August 2022, under the condition that he participate in a reentry program requiring weekly meetings with a caseworker while incarcerated, and for a few months after his release.
Ellie Rushing’s article missed one important point, which we mentioned in our previous article: in July of 2022, Mr Vargas pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a telecom device by an inmate. Under Pennsylvania Title 18 §5123(c)(2), illegal possession of a telecom device by an inmate is a first degree misdemeanor. Under Title 30 §923(a)(7), the sentence for a first degree misdemeanor is “a fine of not less than $1,500 nor more than $10,000, or imprisonment not exceeding five years, or both.”
In other words, Mr Vargas did not need to be released in August of 2022, but could have been kept locked up until 2027. We understand: many district attorneys believe in ‘second chances’ for criminals, hoping that they’ve learned their lesson and will attempt to become productive members of society. But just how many ‘second chances’ should someone who has been in the criminal justice system since he was 15, and “spent the entirety of his adult life . . . in and out of jail” receive? Could no one see that Mr Vargas was a bad dude?
Let’s tell the truth here: all of that lenient treatment didn’t do Mr Vargas any favor. Instead of being in prison now, with a reasonable hope of being released no later than 2027, and probably earlier, Mr Vargas is back in jail, and he will, if convicted, (probably) spend the rest of his miserable life in prison. Four people who would otherwise (probably) still be alive are now pushing up daisies, another seriously wounded, and others terrorized from being shot at even if they weren’t struck.