Former Officer Robert Vargas Guilty of Stalking

A jury found a former Lansing police officer guilty on Tuesday of stalking a Blackman Township public safety officer who arrested him in 2007.

After nearly a day of deliberations, jurors acquitted Robert Vargas, 39, of Mason of aggravated stalking, a felony, and convicted him of the lesser charge of misdemeanor stalking.

They also found him not guilty of malicious use of a telephone, a misdemeanor.

Circuit Judge Thomas Wilson is to sentence Vargas May 28. His crime is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Public Safety Officer Joseph Merritt testified that Vargas twice called him in April 2008 and made threatening statements.

The threats occurred after Merritt arrested Vargas in 2007 in Blackman Township on a domestic violence charge.

A Jackson County jury found Vargas not guilty of domestic violence, but guilty of harassing his former girlfriend with a telephone. He was sentenced to probation.

Soon after his probation ended, Vargas called Merritt, according to Merritt and cell phone and court records.

Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark Blumer argued the threats "terrified" Merritt, who sent his wife and children from their home after he received the first call.

Merritt testified he worried often about Vargas, who lives within a half mile of Merritt's home.

"I think about it when I am out plowing snow, I think about it when I am weeding flower beds. I think about it all the time," Merritt testified.

Defense lawyer Fred Blackmond argued Merritt was not really afraid of Vargas.

Blackmond said the elements to prove the felony charge of aggravated stalking "weren't really there."

Blackmond said Vargas, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, is retired from the Lansing Police Department. He received a duty disability pension after he was shot four times and killed one of the suspects during a robbery in progress in April 2004.