Using drugs with a child nearby was just the start of a Benton City man’s crime spree

A 32-year-old man’s return to drug use last year spiraled into assaults, police chases and exposing a young child to drugs.

Jason Vargas explained he had been clean for six years before he relapsed last year. He apologized as he pleaded guilty to a series of crimes that spanned a year in Benton and Franklin counties.

Judge Jackie Stam sentenced him to seven years in prison for the crime spree that began in May 2025.

“It will be your responsibility to get clean and stay clean for your children,” Stam told Vargas during his recent sentencing hearing in Benton County Superior Court.

Vargas pleaded guilty in Benton County Superior Court to endangering children with a controlled substance, reckless endangerment, possession of a controlled substance and attempting to elude police.

He previously pleaded guilty in Franklin County Superior Court to second-degree assault, five counts of third-degree assault and two counts of first-degree malicious mischief.

He faced between five and seven years in prison for his crimes, court documents said. Prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to ask for the maximum end of the range.

Judges in both counties agreed to follow the recommendation.

Vargas had stayed out of trouble with the law since 2020, when he pleaded guilty in one case to 10 different crimes including burglary, eluding police and hit-and-run, according to public records.

Exposing children to meth

Vargas’ latest crime spree started when two women came across a 2-year-old child in the middle of a Benton City street.

When a Benton County sheriff’s deputy went into the house near where the child was found, she found Vargas passed out in a recliner with another child on his lap, court documents said.

There was a piece of foil with narcotics on it on his lap, court documents said.

When deputies woke Vargas, he said he believed the child found in the road was with his father.

When police searched the home, they found what appeared to fentanyl pills and methamphetamine nearby.

Running from police

Vargas was released on $25,000 bond about a week after his initial arrest toward the end of May, court documents said.

He stayed out of trouble for four months, but in October, he was driving recklessly about 2:40 a.m. in the area of West Van Giesen Street and Bombing Range Road. He was driving a black Dodge and hitting curbs.

A Benton County sheriff’s deputy caught up with him on Highway 224 when it touched the fog line. He stopped for the deputy in a parking lot and provided his driver’s license.

A Washington State Patrol trooper arrived on the scene and started evaluating Vargas to determine if he was high. When the trooper spotted burnt tin foil on the floorboard, he told Vargas to step out of the vehicle.

Vargas refused and then hit the gas, screeching his tires and speeding toward the roundabout at First Street and Kennedy Road, court documents said.

It’s unclear where officers stopped pursuing, but the chase reached the Interstate 82 on ramp.

Pasco burglary and assault

Pasco police came across Vargas again on Oct. 28 after he had run from Richland officers the night before in a stolen Acura.

Port of Pasco employees alerted officers about finding a gray Acura backed into a shed. Inside police found Vargas sleeping.

Port of Pasco employees, Pasco police and Benton County deputies surrounded the car. When police began to order Vargas out of the car using a loudspeaker, he woke up and began ramming the vehicles surrounding him.

Officers had to take cover to avoid being hurt. He continued to hit the cars trying to make an escape and ended up damaging two Pasco police cars, two Benton County sheriff’s vehicles, a Port of Pasco F-250 and a Port of Pasco snowplow.

After realizing that he wasn’t going to escape, he stopped but refused to leave the vehicle. He smoked an unknown substance from a piece of foil before surrendering.