Fillmore Man arrested for weapons violations

Ventura County Sheriff – Incident Press Release

A check the wellbeing call results in the arrest of a 42-year-old Fillmore man for various weapons violations.

On April 16, 2021, deputies received a call that Scott Vargen had been acting and talking in a bizarre manner.  Deputies were told that Vargen had made statements about visualizing things and having messages sent to him.  The reporting party was concerned about Vargen’s mental health wellbeing and notified law enforcement. 

Although the reporting party’s concern for Vargen’s wellbeing needed to be investigated, there was no immediate or imminent threat to the public.  Deputies had the time to develop a plan, which included contacting the Ventura County Mental Health Crisis Intervention Team and requested their assistance.  The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) and deputies collaborated and conducted an investigation regarding these statements and behavior exhibited by Vargen. 

Deputies and CIT went to Vargen’s residence and spoke with him about his bizarre statements and behavior.  During the interview, deputies learned that Vargen recently purchased several firearms.  The deputies were able to inspect these firearms and determined one of the firearms was an illegal assault rifle.  Vargen was in possession of several high capacity pistol and rifle magazines, in violation of California weapons regulations. 

Deputies arrested Vargen for PC 32310 Possession of High Capacity Magazines and PC 30605(a) Possession of an Assault Rifle.  Vargen was booked at the Ventura County Main in lieu of $30,000.00 bail.

The Fillmore Police Department would like to take this opportunity to express to the public if you see or hear something that is out of place or just not right, please say something.  The adage of “See Something. Say Something.” relates to many different facets of our life.  The Fillmore Police Department has access to many different resources and we can provide people with contacts to access those resources.