Taunton Criminal Sentenced for Threatening Driver with Knife

FALL RIVER — A career criminal from Taunton is headed back to prison after he was sentenced for threatening a delivery driver with a knife.

Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III says Leonard Vargus, 45, was sentenced late last week to serve two-and-a-half years in the house of corrections. Vargus pleaded guilty in Fall River Superior Court to indictments charging him with assault with a dangerous weapon and malicious destruction of a motor vehicle.

On July 1, 2018, Vargus slashed the tires of a Dominos delivery driver without any apparent cause. He then climbed onto the vehicle's roof and held a knife to the driver's head through the sunroof.

The victim was able to escape unharmed and notified police. Vargus was located nearby, holding a knife. As he was taken into custody, Vargus yelled, "I don't stab tire (sic). I stab people. Check my record."

Vargus' record includes convictions for assaultive behavior and includes a lengthy federal prison sentence for drug trafficking and money laundering.

“The defendant is a career criminal who should have received a longer state prison sentence. He has a history of violence and also has completed a substantial federal sentence for selling drugs and laundering money,” District Attorney Quinn said. “This is a pointless act of violence perpetrated against an innocent person who was just trying to make a living. The defendant is not someone who can be rehabilitated.”