Vargas Sentenced to 90 Days in Jail

World Boxing Assn. junior middleweight champion Fernando Vargas was sentenced Friday to 90 days in county jail in Santa Barbara Superior Court for his role in a 1999 assault case.

Vargas, 23, who pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit assault, must serve at least 60 days, beginning no later than Jan. 6, before he is eligible for parole.

Vargas’ manager, Rolando Arellano says he will pursue alternate sentencing, hoping the boxer, an Oxnard native, will be allowed to spend the time training at his Big Bear headquarters while wearing an electronic monitor.

“It would be too much of a liability putting someone as well known as Fernando in jail,” Arellano said.

Vargas was also given three years’ probation and 100 hours of community service and was ordered to make restitution to the victim, Doug Rossi, 23, who suffered a broken finger and cuts to the head.

Attorneys for Vargas unsuccessfully attempted Friday to reduce the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor.

“I thought the sentence was a little bit unfair,” said Vargas, who had no prior felony record. “I guess the judge had his reasons for doing what he did.”

The jail time is double the amount handed out to the other defendants in the case--Ernesto Vargas, Fernando’s cousin; Freddie Flores, Carlos Lopez and Vincent Arenas.

“The judge [Thomas Adams] accurately recognized that Mr. Vargas was in a position to influence the others,” said Hilary Dozer, a senior deputy in the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s office. “He recognized that Mr. Vargas was in a position of authority. He is the one who could have stopped it.”

The sentencing stems from a July 1999 incident at the Montecito home of a woman Vargas was visiting. Vargas, who had met the woman in a Santa Barbara club, was dropped off at her home late at night and soon got into an altercation with Anthony Arria, who was also in the house.

Vargas placed a call in order to be picked up and the four defendants arrived. Rossi, who was seeing another woman in the house, was then assaulted with a stick and golf clubs.

A key factor in the judges’ decision, according to Dozer, was a 911 call placed while Rossi was being beaten.

“The judge could hear the head blows being inflicted,” Dozer said, “and he could hear women screaming.”

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Vargas continues to maintain he is innocent, but says he pleaded no contest for the sake of the other defendants.

“If it had gone to a jury trial,” Vargas said, “it would have been clear there is no evidence against me. But the other guys would have gotten five years each.

“I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. This wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t Fernando Vargas. But now I just want to move on.”

Vargas, who won his title by beating Jose “Shibata” Flores on a seventh-round knockout last Saturday, had been planning a fund-raising fight night in Oxnard in December, to be followed, he hoped, by a title defense against a major opponent, perhaps Oscar De La Hoya, next spring.

Arellano says Vargas may still go ahead with his plans for an Oxnard show in December, then surrender himself to police, still getting out in time for a spring fight.

“We just want to get this over,” Arellano said, “and enjoy our championship.”