Aaron Vargas is Looking at Life for Killing Serial Pedophile Darrell McNeill

For starters, this man was doing the entire world a favor. He should be punished to an extent, but actual prison time is a joke. McNeil obviously had a severe pedophilia problem, and no amount of treatment would have saved him. Apparently he also liked to torment his victims. Ask yourself, what would you do. I normally do not commend people who take the law into their own hands, but in this case i believe it was justice well served.

How sad and sick- it's NOT right to take law into your own hands... But under that pressure- I'd be a liar if i claimed that I would have made the choice to not react in the same manner

When someone sexually harms another, they forever take a piece of that person. It's bad enough when they are left to deal with it themselves but to be tormented by the abuser after they have tried to heal... that has to cause significantly more mental distress. I think this man still had fear in his heart of his abuser and acted out of fear and anger. I can imagine he was, in a bass akwards way, protecting his baby as well. Having the sicko that close to his family had to eat him alive. I do think his actions were just and I hope a jury finds him not guilty.

I hate crimes like this.

I hate them, because I know I would do exactly the same thing that Vargas did if anyone did that to someone I cared about. If it ever came down to that, I would also be prepared to face the consequences of my actions.

Not trying to be QTV [;) Bacon], but sometimes, I just can't argue that vigilante justice is always bad... Because sometimes, I think its deserved.

Let him be free. A message to all the other pedophiles in the world.

I agree with what he did. The justice is FAR too lenient on convicts. Less people would be doing the crime if harsher sentences were given out. Doesn't matter WHAT crime was committed, I feel the same way about them all. This is just my opinion.

In one day's newspaper, I read how a man got 2 years for animal cruelty and in the same paper, I read how an adult only got 8 months for sexually molesting a young female. It's not right and it's not fair. Vargas should be let out to walk his streets again with his fiance and baby.

as someone who deals with the results of sexual abuse everyday i say thank god for vargas. he just saved countless numbers of future victims years of abuse and years more of therapy to put back their lives.

Aaron Vargas has already served his "time". He was pushed to the edge by a monster, Darrell McNeill.
Aaron is no threat to the public. He needs help and care, not prison.

Set him free.

Val, your actually going to be suprised by my opinion on this. I think the victim was Aaron Vargas and the other men whom our justice system failed. Had McNeil been arrested as soon as the other man who committed suicide had admitted the molestation, then Vargas would not have been driven to take matters into his own hands. The fact that we have a statute of limitations on sexual offenses involving minors but no such statute on murder, robbery, etc is absolutely SICK. I think the justice system allowed this to happen by not taking the proper course of action initially.

Second I hope this man (Vargas) will be given a sentence of 6 months to a year under strict psychiatric care, since THAT is what he needs most. To punish this man as a sane, competent, adult and send him to a HELL where he will most likely be sexually abused again is DISGUSTING and the justice system will be doing America a great disservice. I hope through counseling and therapy Mr. Vargas is able to return to his life as a husband and father. I apologize that he ever had to endure this in the first place.
JMO

im with you guys on this one. I thought we would have some epic debate here, but everyone seems to agree.

It seems your right and we all agree iqb. I think that going through that as a child all that pain, anger an fear festered inside of Vargas. Then the p.o.s. McNeil returns years later just to torment this guy even further. It just goes to show you do these things to people it can and will come back on you one way are the other. I can't understand where it came in that McNeil started 'stalking' his victims again?? For what reason I wonder? To ensure he had silenced them? What could he have possibly wanted? Well, no matter what he wanted ,he got his dues!

If I were on the jury, I would vote not guilty. This guy is more hero than criminal.

Like I said before I always try to defend Law Enforcement and the Legal System, not in cases like this. These animals will never be cured, studies show they can not be rehabilitation back into society. So yeah, one less piece of shit to worry about. Today here in California on the 6:00pm news a pedophile was sentenced to life in prison, but because of old Arnold and budget cuts the scum bag was released. Shortly after his released he raped a 14 year old boy. My bother worked for the State his job before it was eliminated by Arnold was to evaluate sex offenders to see if they could be released into society. He never wanted to release any scum. Hate to admit it but our government needs help.

Aaron did what most of us, who lived a similar lifestyle, didn't do. and but what i mean by that is standing up and taking this low life creature of the streets. I say let him go. I will sleep better tonight knowing that one more pediphile is off our streets. God Bless Aaron!!!!

As much as it pains me to say this .... I agree wholeheartedly with Bacon .....

This guy should NOT go to prison ... but he really should be assessed to ensure that he is not a danger to himself or anyone else before he is allowed to walk.

He did the world a favour.

Its great a pedophile is dead...but murderers are just as low as pedophiles.
Its two vermin of society. Now.. who is going to shoot women pedophiles? Nobody? thats what I thought.

So.. since only male pedophiles would end up getting shot while women pedophiles get thumbs up and high fives (or get completely ignored by society as usual)...... I think we should just let REAL justice take its course and let sam deal with the issue. The lynch is so righteous and well meaning...but their fatal flaw is that they will walk past the houses of 100000 white lesbian pedophiles who molested 12 year old girls....... to get at some 31 year old guy who had a legal 17 year old lover (under his local age of consent).
This issue is too sexist to trust the lynch mob to think rationally.

I'm in favor of life sentences for both pedophiles and murderers. But.. vigilante justice is a dangerous concept. That style of justice might work in the wilds of africa...but it shouldnt exist in the modern world.

This guy did the right thing. A sicko is always a sicko, and to think he hurt this people as kids and then got kicks out of hurting them as adults. More people should be allowed to rid the world of sickos like he did.

I too agree with Bacon. Aaron will need psychiatric help after the torment he went through and actions he took. I wish Aaron all the best in recovering from his ordeal.

Jail is undeserved, and for him would only destroy his life and that of his family.

Pedophiles are never given enough prison time. It's ridiculous. I know someone who was severely sexually abused as a very young child. When the perpetrator was finally brought to justice, he wound up being sentenced to only three years, and he ultimately only did six months in prison, and then was released. What this guy did to this person was horrific and it happened for a long time. These pedo freaks cannot be rehabilitated. They have to be incarcerated forever. And I completely understand why that Vargas guy murdered this pedo. Vargas is also completely justified.

I predict jury nullification. The fact that there is corroboration makes me think that (albiet vigilante) justice was served. What did the molestor hope to gain by stalking this poor guy? He was trying to get off on reliving the crime.

It seems when a victim is consistently tortured they are the ones that get punished by law for stopping the abuse. The nighmare of being molested never goes away...when the pedophile inflicts harm like this, that individual deserves nothing more then to be dead. Pedophiles are sick demented waste of human flesh. "Aaron has done the world a favor!" Hope pedophilers out there reading this article think twice...

I think this speaks amazingly to our justice system. This guy cannot get pinned as a pedophile, stalker, or for harassment, but Vargas, who killed him, then honorably turned himself in, is going on trial? He did us a favor. When the justice system fails, at times, real justice is needed. Plain and simple.

For you2, How are the victims punished by the law? “ It seems when a victim is consistently tortured they are the ones that get punished by law for stopping the abuse? “ I don't understand that sentence?When child molesters (pedophile), child killers, rapist go to prison you can bet your ass these scumbags will get whats coming to them and in most cases especially a child killers, if the other prisoners can get their hands on the dirt-bags the guards will look the other way.

i have to agree with all that posted. so far it's unanimous. i agree with bacon, get the man some counseling to deal with this.

i want to touch on the short sentences of pedophiles... these creeps take away a child's innocence and their sexual mental health for the rest of their lives. it's something you live with everyday, and it can adversely effect ones ability to open themself up to a life partner completely. it's as if they steal a part of the person as someone pointed out. the victim lives a life sentence in a prison in their mind. the pedophile when brought to justice may serve 3-6 months in exchange. there is nothing just about this arrangement, and it's time society revamp the laws regarding child molestation.

Pete Kotz said:

I'm with you,pinandpuller. The prosecutor has to charge the guy, because he can't have vendetta killings all over this county. But the jury's gotta find a way to make this go away. That's the moral choice here.

For those of you who ask why he didn't go to the police instead:

Todd Rowan was molested by McNeill and in 2001, he took his accusations to Fort Bragg police - but nothing happened.

McNeill's ex-wife, Jenny Cotilla, made a complaint to the department about 20 years ago alleging her ex-husband had molested her son/his stepson John Clemons. Nothing happened with that report either.

So what good would have come from Vargas filing a report?

Besides, Vargas was trying to get on with his life, and it was McNeill that was coming around, stalking, harassing. He was a predator of the worst kind and he's lucky he got off so easy.

I agree jury nullification.

Did the 1st wife leave him? Why?

Wonder what the root cause was?

Using the thinking of Occam's razor, this is true.

At some time three people will be able to get together and lie about this. Think of the three throwaway girls in the San Francisco Bay area, who killed people. There needs to be an investigation, but now some of the evidence is missing. He's dead. They can read minds now. Can't read everything, but just wait.

It is really sad and upsetting that people can't tell their parents about this as evidenced by these three men. It says something about our society.

What is in the complaint other than "I said"?

The police need proof. Need to wire the victim & get the alleged perp to talk. Dreadful, but probably necessary. Then you would have proof.

Worse, if the police wouldn't do anything, you would have to campaign against the chief,absolutely dreadful.

The elected ones need to be outside their comfort zone to act, but they need something to work with other than an accusation.

I'm happy to see that most of the comments are supportive of Aaron. Please don't label this a case of vigilantism. Aaron was not vengeful. If he were, he would have killed McNeill a long time ago. Aaron was mentally held captive by his abuser. He was that scared 11 year old boy around him. That 11 year old boy found his voice on 2/8/09. The safety of his child is what helped him to find his voice and stand up to his abuser. He didn't have the intention of shooting him - he only wanted to scare him. Obviously something happened during the confrontation. Aaron is the most kind, caring, and selfless person I know. He is the last person who deserves prison. He is the victim here. He is sitting in jail worrying about the other victims, about McNeill's family (who he is close to), and how he will pay everyone back who has donated to his legal defense. There are always a few who will say that it is never ok to kill or to take the law into your own hands, but this isn't a case of someone taking the law into their hands. I believe there are sometimes circumstances when killing is justified, and this is one of them. Child rape is the most horrible crime. Aaron ended the abuse, and I believe that abuse should be ended by any means necessary, including killing. He saved others. The cops failed to do that for decades even though they knew he was raping children. I don't understand how anyone could argue that Darrell being killed was wrong. The system failed. The only other option would to be to let McNeill keep raping kids. Aaron couldn't stand by and allow that to happen anymore. To me he is the definition of a hero. If our government killed bin Laden tomorrow, everyone would rejoice. But I guess it is ok when the government kills because it is ok for violence to move down the hierarchy, just not up it.

I am opposed to the death penalty, I deplore it. I am also not a fan of people taking the law into their own hands it sets a poor precedent and opens up a Pandora's box of potential problems. You simply can not allow people to run around exacting their own revenge.

That said he should have pursued legal recourse and I am not sure that he did, though it sounds like others did and the child molester still walked free. That is a failing of our legal system. Just as short jail sentences for these criminals are a failing of our legal system.

Before you ask me what I would have done, I am a survivor of abuse and I see one of the people who committed the crimes against me quite frequently because we are related. One of the people involved (there were two, and they were both males) has passed away. The other as I said I still see. I do not have any urge to kill him. In fact I do not even want to confront him or in anyway ruin his life or the lives of his wife and children. Am I wrong? Maybe. I guess we all have our opinions, but to me this person was only 16 at the time and I do not feel fully mental capable of understanding what they did to me.

(now that I have bared my soul on an internet forum for god knows what reason...)

I think that the trigger here was the man came back into his life and started to harass him, and stalk him. He has a family, and old fear is tough to deal with when someone shows back up in your life who did something like this to you.

If he snapped and killed the man I think he has a justifiable defense, if he indeed planned to kill him and then executed him in cold blood he is a criminal in the eyes of the law and should be dealt with as such.

Now in this case I do not feel the man should go to prison based on what little evidence I have read, I think he needs to spend time in a mental institution focused on helping him through all of his pain and suffering from old and new wounds.

That does not say he should walk free, and it does not mean others should just walk around seeking revenge without first trying to use the legal system as your first line of defense from predators.

Normally I would write under my pen name but I feel strongly enough about this situation that Aaron deserves my birth name while I write what I have to say here.

I was a victim of molest. I am now a survivor. The one who did this to me is in and out of prison and I can not touch him because I could not begin to know where to find him. However, in my case, he is getting punished so much more. My only fear is if there are more victims during the times he is out. That haunts me.

So I have to say that Aaron did the right thing. We wait for the system to take care of it and too often they slip through the cracks on technicalities or judgments on them are too soft. This makes it where in a few short years they are out again and ready to plot their next victims. Don't believe in the whole thing that they can rehabilitated...I have seen and personally known of too many repeat offenders.

Aaron did the right thing. Why we are wasting money on a trail that should be clearly seen as this man had been molested and was currently being harassed by this same molester, more witnesses came out with similar stories, and that he got rid of the problem? What was law enforcement doing to help Aaron?

This situation is a bit personal to me because I live in this county and it speaks volumes of how our judicial system DOESN'T seem to be working.

FREE AARON NOW!

this gut should rot in jail. he had no right to take the law into his own hands. he is a murderer and nothing else.

I would have done the same thing. The law is there to protect and serve the people. It is clear that this man was not protected, nor were other victims. Where was the law when these crimes were committed. How utterly outrageous that the law and the courts that could not protect these victims will not step in and victimize the victim by seeking justice for a pedophile.

I'm a prosecutor and I can honestly say I don't know ANY prosecutors who would want to send this guy to prison for life. Even though it appears that the prosecutor is looking to convict him of 1st degree murder, I would almost guarantee that they have no intention of actually doing this. The prosecution really doesn't have a choice in a case like this. They have to initially charge him with murder whether they want to or not, just to set the precedent that vigilante justice cannot be tolerated. They have to send this message to the public. But I would almost guarantee that they will quietly work out some sort of plea bargain which involves little or no jail time. Plus, the prosecution isn't stupid and they probably recognize that it would be next to impossible to get a jury to convict this guy of 1st degree murder.

Did the law fail him though? Did Aaron ever report this abuse or the stalking to authorities? That is something I am not clear on.

Not that it justifies revenge killings in my opinion but it would make it much more understandable, and further illustrate how flawed the system is.

This is he kind of case I would LOVE to be the jury on.....I would let him off for it. I understand that we can't have vendetta killings all over the country but this guy was just toying on the line....he got what was coming to him and I think he got it nicer than he should.....I think he should have gotten beaten to death.....not shot...poor guy (the victim facing life in prison) I really hope a jury lets him off! There is only so far you can go before you get mauled.....you can't jump in a tiger's area at the zoo and sue the zoo when the tiger attacks....

"the man from government services said:

as someone who deals with the results of sexual abuse everyday i say thank god for vargas. he just saved countless numbers of future victims years of abuse and years more of therapy to put back their lives. "

Sir, I just want to take a moment and say Thank you and that I love you for saying that. There are too many people who do not realize this and added that you do you understand Vargas' pain, makes it all the more wonderful that you support Vargas and do not feel bad for such a horrible person who has done very heinous acts.

"Here's a case that will test your morals, dear reader..."

Hmm. When I read about this killing I couldn't help but think about my pen pal. He's in prison right now for the same thing. The man he killed? His rapist? His FATHER.

I don't think the guy I write to should have ever spent a single day in jail for what he did. Neither should the man this article is about. I know one thing for sure: I would not be afraid to be in the same room with either of them. They are not evil. The people these two men killed WERE evil.

If this is a test of my morals, it's an easy one. Child molesters should be put to death. Period, end of story. Pedophiles develop a taste for children over time. They leave behind a sickening trail of who knows how many broken souls and shattered lives before they finally get caught. They do not "get better" with treatment. They can't be truly rehabilitated like someone who's recovering from a car accident or a stroke. They don't ever stop being a threat.

There's only one prison the molester can't escape from. Only one place they'll never be released from, and only one place where they absolutely never have a chance to hurt anyone else again.

That place is a grave.

I am with u on that one Doof.

Let him go. He's done a public service for the county and deserves to go free. Exterminating vermin is a costly business and he's done it for free.

I am a pacifist usually, but NOT in this case.
Cheers
Webfoot

FREE AARON! I'm a rape survivor and I have, on countless occasions, wanted to murder the man that victimized me. There is no real way to describe how I identify with what Aaron did. If only I were so brave to do the same thing, maybe I could sleep at night...

I hope Aaron walks-then gets some help for his pain and suffering so he can enjoy a long life with his loved ones

I agree with dooflotchie on this one, damn that shit was like poetic. @Baconbully, something most people don't know or even care to think about is, that a lot more incarcerated and criminal males have been raped and molested as children than you will ever know. That's because most of them are not willing to even admit it let alone report it and go to trial over it. Why deal with other people's attitudes and the stigma of having been overpowered and rendered helpless (devastating to a person's ego), on top of the trauma of already being raped/molested? Some of these people become molesters themselves, others are ready to kill somebody just for touching them. Another silent burden carried on and held within...

I don't think Vargas has anything to worry about as far as being sexually assaulted while locked up (at least at first). People will feel him out, and based on his personality he'll either do alright or he won't. The fact that he has already been raped means he is probably more wary about that type of stuff than a lot of newcomers to the joint. People do get raped in prison, but not like they make it seem on TV.

And that's why I don't own a gun! Good for Vargas.

I hope McNeill is burning in hell and I know that I will pray everyday for Vargas that he may get the help he should have gotten so many years ago and is returned to his family very soon. And now the most important question of all...what the hell is wrong with that police department? The Cheif of Police, the State Attorney, the Prosecutor and anyone else who failed to protect this man when he was a child should be held accountable. They turned a blind eye and failed to help the innocent! They should all be held accountable and publicly humiliated!