Mission Viejo Man Held in Parking Lot Stabbing

A man suspected of pursuing two couples by car and stabbing one man in a restaurant parking lot was arrested Thursday night.

Michael James Vargas, 19, offered no resistance when taken into custody at his Mission Viejo home by sheriff’s deputies. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Municipal Court on charges of assault with a deadly weapon.

Vargas was among a group of youths hanging out in a Lake Forest shopping plaza at Ridge Route Drive and Muirlands Boulevard on Jan. 17 when two couples in one car drove through the parking lot about 11 p.m., the Sheriff’s Department said.

The couples, who are all involved with a local Little League, had finished dinner in a nearby Italian restaurant and were looking for a sushi bar in the shopping plaza.

Reports conflict about what happened after that. Doug and Terry Haus of Mission Viejo, one of the couples, said there was no communication between the couples and the youths.

“There were no words exchanged,” said the other woman in the car, who did not want to be identified. “We were in a van with the window closed. We were looking for a sushi bar that was closed, and we just made a U-turn and left.”

However, sheriff’s deputies said, witnesses reported that angry words were shouted from the van before the vehicle left the parking lot.

The couples drove about a mile to another shopping plaza, with the youths following them in a late-model, silver Buick Regal. The minivan parked at the Hot Rod restaurant, close to a sheriff’s patrol car. The car parked about 20 feet behind the van.

Doug Haus said he got out of the van and asked why they had been followed.

“Terry (Haus) yelled at him to get back in the car,” the female passenger said. “Three kids ran up to the van. Just as (Doug Haus) turned around, one kid hit him in the eye. Doug went back and raised his fist, then I grabbed his arm and shoved the guy away from Doug. He turned around, and I noticed he was bleeding.”

Haus was taken to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, where he was treated for a stab wound. Terry Haus said Thursday that he is recovering.

Sheriffs investigators interviewed about 100 people until they found someone who recognized the Buick Regal, sheriff’s Capt. Doug Storm said.

Vargas was picked out of a photo lineup by one of the occupants of the minivan, who placed Vargas at the scene of the attack, Storm said.

Vargas is being held in Orange County Jail on $10,000 bail.