2010-06-19 CNN
Tomorrow there will be a hearing that could put Aaron Vargas behind bars for up to ten years. Vargas pleaded no contest to shooting this man to death, Darrel McNeal. Vargas says McNeal molested him and stalked him for almost two decades. Since then, many others say they, too, were molested by McNeal. And now thousands of others are asking that Vargas receive no person time. It is a plea Vargas' sister is leading.
Darrel McNeal was coming around and offering to baby sit Aaron's new daughter, bringing diapers, asking to see her, so Aaron felt that his child was in danger. Aaron knew that Darrel was still raping other kids in the community, and he had learned about that in the days prior to the shooting. So I think it was just a lot of events that just transpired and it just -- he hit his breaking point, is what happened. He said enough is enough.
So it wasn't years that had passed since this happened, and Aaron felt that he had to do something or that other people would fall victim to this man.
No. No, it's not a case at all where years had passed and he decided, well, I want to go and get revenge on this guy for molesting me. That's not the case at all. The abuse, it never ended. And the police weren't stopping this man, and Aaron just felt like, he needs to be stopped. But Aaron didn't go there with the intention of firing the gun that night, though. He just wanted to warn him. And he brought the gun to tell him, you know, listen, I'm serious. You're going to stop raping children.
So, Mindy, here's a concern. People are afraid that other victims may do the same to their molesters if Aaron gets a light sentence or if he gets off in any way.
Well, I talked to victims from all over the world and none of them conveyed to me that they want to go out and kill their abuser. They just -- they want to be left alone. They want their abusers to be prosecuted, and they just want to live a life and try and heal.
And people who say that if Aaron gets off easy, that that will just, you know, send a message that it's OK for victims to go out and kill their abuser, they're just completely missing the whole point of this case. Because that's not how the victims feel.
So legally, are you speaking to attorneys there? Can you give us some idea of your brother's chances?
Well, Aaron, we did hire an attorney to defend Aaron, and he could get anywhere from probation to ten years in prison. And I'm just hoping that the judge will do the right thing and that he will see the truth in this. And also, that the judge will ignore the sheriff's department and the probation department, who have made outrageous accusations by saying that the abuse was a consensual relationship and that the shooting was some kind of a lover's quarrel. It's just -- it's outrageous, to me.
How much has it played into the wife of the man that he killed is saying, is asking for leniency?
I think that has a big effect. You know, that the wife is stepping forward and saying that she knows Aaron and she loves him.
Vargas' sister says police received at least three reports about Darrel McNeal, and she doesn't know why he was never arrested.