A suspected MS-13 gang member with a violent criminal history has been arrested in Nashville, Tennessee, after a year on the run, police said.
According to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD), Leonel Vargas Jr., 24, was arrested Wednesday afternoon.
According to Davidson County jail records, he faces several charges including felony aggravated assault by strangulation, felony aggravated burglary, felony probation violation, misdemeanor domestic assault, and two counts of misdemeanor theft of property.
Mugshot of Leonel Vargas Jr. (Metro Nashville Police Department)
Vargas has a long criminal history stemming back to 2019.
Back in that year, he was accused of aggravated assault by strangulation, two counts of domestic assault causing bodily harm, and one count of domestic assault causing fear of bodily harm. He was put on probation for these offenses.
His probation was breached in 2022, leading to a one-year prison sentence and a year of supervised release. Furthermore, in the same year, a previous 2021 case involving felony evading arrest by motor vehicle and reckless endangerment was reopened.
An MS-13 gang member gestures in the Quezaltepeque police station May 20, 2013, in San Salvador, El Salvador. (Giles Clarke/Getty Images)
He was found guilty on those charges in 2023 and was sentenced to two years of supervised release.
Last year, he was charged with felony domestic aggravated assault, burglary and theft, and was on the run from police until they arrested him on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, FBI Director Kash Patel announced a $5 million bounty for information leading to the arrest of MS-13’s leader in Honduras, Yulan Adonay Archaga Carías.
In the United States, the gang has recently been in the news after one alleged member, illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, was deported to El Salvador.
He was suspected of being involved in labor/human trafficking, according to a 2022 Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) report obtained by Fox News.
