Daily News: Woman fears LA County DA’s new policies will thwart justice in son’s cold-case killing

‘I would be happy if he went to prison for the rest of his miserable life and rotted there,’ says the mother of Jeffrey Vargo, a 6-year-old killed in

Connie Vargo keeps the yellowed newspaper clippings neatly tucked away in a photo album, only retrieving them when she is asked to relive a parent’s worst nightmare.

“We never really get them out and look at them,” she told a reporter of the old articles, replete with screaming headlines such as “Worker discovers body of missing boy” and “The cruelty that lasts a lifetime.” “We’ve kept them because the event changed our lives forever.”
Kenneth Kaston Rasmuson after his arrest in Idaho in 2015. (Bonner County Jail via Orange County Register)

It’s been nearly four decades since that dreadful day in July 1981 when Connie and Bob Vargo’s idyllic life was upended by the kidnapping and killing of their happy-go-lucky 6-year-old son, Jeffrey. And it’s been six years since cold-case detectives arrested violent child predator Kenneth Kasten Rasmuson for the slaying.

Rasmuson, 59, remains in the Los Angeles County jail still awaiting trial on two counts of murder for Jeffery’s death as well as the subsequent 1986 slaying of a 6-year-old boy in an Agoura Hills.

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Heritage Foundation: A Rogue Prosecutor Whose Extreme Policies Undermine the Rule of Law and Make Los Angeles Less Safe

George Gascón, the Soros-backed former District Attorney of San Francisco, is now the District Attorney for Los Angeles County. He has, in mere weeks, put into place radical pro-criminal and anti-prosecution policies and is, in a twisted way, the gold standard for rogue prosecutors. The impact of his reckless and dangerous policies is just starting to be felt—and will come into full bloom in the months and years ahead.

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Fontana Herald News: What’s it feel like to be scared during a violent crime? Now Washington knows

The events at the Capitol, the suspects’ conduct, law enforcement’s response, and the sentiments of the victims have illuminated for many the normal process of criminal justice in counties across America, including San Bernardino. While the events and personal conduct by many at the Capitol are atrocious and unacceptable, the process that is occurring in Washington, D.C., is not extraordinary.

The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office engages in this process every day on behalf of any citizen in our county who is a victim of a crime. We assist law enforcement in ensuring all investigative leads are followed in order to properly identify the correct suspect. We then review the police reports and evidence to determine whether someone has committed a crime and whether we can prove that crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Once we file charges, we determine the appropriate degree of severity based upon the defendant’s conduct, prior record, and impact the crime has had on the individual victim and on society.

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Metropolitan News-Enterprise: Supervisor Barger Lectures Gascón on Constitutional Responsibilities

Decries Policy Under Which No Deputy District Attorney Will Appear at Hearing to Oppose Parole for Man Who Repeatedly Sexually Assaulted Young Children

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger has taken issue with one of District Attorney George Gascón’s “special directives,” under which no prosecutor will be present at the parole hearing on March 11 for Ruben Beltran, who was convicted in 2009 of aggravated sexual assault of a young boy and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
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Politico: California prosecutors revolt against Los Angeles DA’s social justice changes

OAKLAND, Calif. — Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón ran on a vow to shake up America’s largest law enforcement jurisdiction. Sweeping progressive changes followed — and so has the California backlash.

Within weeks of taking office, Gascón instructed prosecutors to stop seeking the death penalty and trying juveniles as adults. He ordered a halt to most cash bail requests and banned prosecutors from appearing at parole hearings. Most controversially, he barred prosecutors from seeking various sentencing enhancements.

Even if expected, Gascón’s moves have set off a political confrontation of unprecedented magnitude. Rank-and-file Los Angeles prosecutors have revolted and sought to block their new boss in court. District attorneys elsewhere in California have said they will not share cases with Gascón.

“You can’t just use the law to implement your personal worldview of what society should look like,” Association of Deputy District Attorneys Vice President Eric Siddall said. “The idea of one man coming in and saying, ‘You all are wrong, and this is what the law should be,’ is kind of counter to what our entire American system of justice is all about. It’s the antithesis of the rule of law.”

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Fox 11: Widow of slain LASD Sergeant says Gascón ‘doesn’t understand how much he’s hurting the victims’

LA County DA George Gascón promised criminal justice reform but some say he’s gone too far, only caring about the defendants and not the victims or their families.

“I’m furious that Mr. Gascón just doesn’t understand how much he’s hurting the victims,” says Tania Owen.

She’s the widow of LASD Sgt. Steven Owen, who was killed execution-style on October 5, 2016, in Lancaster.