Vargas to Face Felony Charges in Connection With Beating

Fernando Vargas of Oxnard, the International Boxing Federation’s junior-middleweight champion, was charged Tuesday with two felony counts stemming from his role in the beating last month of a 23-year-old Santa Barbara man.

Vargas, 21, and his cousin, Ernesto Vargas, 27, and three friends were charged with assault with a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit a crime, said Hilary Dozer, senior deputy district attorney for Santa Barbara County.

A special enhancement alleging the beating caused great bodily injury also was filed, Dozer said. Conviction carries a maximum of nearly eight years in prison, Dozer said.

Vargas will be arraigned in a Santa Barbara courtroom Monday.

“We’re disappointed that the . . . district attorney’s office is moving forward with this matter,” Shelly Finkel and Rolando Arellano, Vargas’ managers, said in a prepared statement. “However, we believe that Fernando is innocent of all charges and should this matter go to trial, Fernando is confident that he’ll be vindicated.”

Vargas also released a statement late Tuesday, maintaining his innocence and thanking fans and sponsors for “believing in me and not rushing to judgment.”

Vargas, his cousin and the other defendants, Vincent Arenas, 20; Carlos Alberto Lopez, 28, and Freddie Flores, 21, are free on $10,000 bail each.

Vargas’ attorney, Gregory W. Moreno, has maintained his client acted in self-defense.

Authorities allege that Vargas and the others used golf clubs and a billy club to beat Doug Rossi in a Santa Barbara condominium in the early hours of July 25. Rossi suffered a broken finger, cuts and scrapes, Dozer said.

The incident started after Vargas allegedly went to the condo to visit a woman he had met at a strip club in Santa Barbara, according to Sgt. Bill Turner of the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department. The woman and her female roommate work at the club, Turner said.

About 4 a.m., while Vargas and the woman were in her bedroom, the woman’s former boyfriend, Anthony Arria, showed up at the front door, Turner said. Arria was let in by Rossi, who dates the woman’s roommate, Turner said.

Arria and Vargas argued and then brawled before Rossi broke up the fight and Arria left, Turner said.

Vargas, who had been dropped off at the condo, called his friends and asked to be picked up. When his friends arrived, the fivesome broke down a bedroom door to reach Rossi and beat him up, Turner said.

The motive is unclear but authorities believe Arria and Rossi are friends and that Vargas might have been upset that Rossi let Arria in, Turner said.

Authorities recovered blood-stained golf clubs and a homemade billy club at the condo.

Vargas and the others were arrested the same day on the Ventura Freeway about six miles south of Carpinteria.