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Published on 10/12/1998 All articles from this issue

Former Egan coach Vargas pleads guilty to child porn

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

A former coach at Egan Intermediate School in Los Altos pleaded guilty Oct. 13 to selling a video of child pornography for $500, said deputy district attorney Javier Alcala.

The judge told Richard Dean Vargas, 48, that because he had no prior record, because of his good behavior, his age and that this was a one-time incident, that he would not be going to state prison, Alcala said.

The penalty would be up to one year in jail and up to five years of probation, Alcala said.

Vargas will be sentenced Nov. 20 and will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life.

"He pleaded guilty because he had no defense," Alcala said.

Vargas was a popular coach and teacher during the years he taught seventh and eighth grade boys in physical education at Egan, from 1988 to his resignation in June 1997.

Vargas was arrested at his home in Milpitas in December 1996 on charges of mailing and selling a child porn video to a customer, who, in fact, was a police informant, in Southern California earlier that month.

According to court documents, officers found more than 63 photos of young males in Vargas' bedroom. Vargas kept a pair of black handcuffs on his headboard, and he had a collection of child porn videos, documents reported.

His roommates described the videos as "nasty," according to court documents. Milpitas police said the videos involved mostly 14- and 15-year-old boys.

When Los Altos police searched Vargas' office and desk at Egan, they found nothing pornographic and nothing that tied into the charges, said Marge Gratiot, superintendent of the Los Altos School District.

The district attorney filed charges May 6, 1997, and issued an arrest warrant May 19. On June 9, Vargas resigned from his job at Egan. He surrendered June 11 and was released on $40,000 bail. He has not been in custody since.

Should he return to Los Altos, "He wouldn't get his job back with us," Gratiot said. He won't get his teaching credential back so he "can't teach here or in any other public school," she said.

For a certain class of felonies - of which this is one - you lose your teaching credential, Gratiot said. "It was suspended at the time of the charge. Now it will be revoked," she said.