Post by Scumhunter on Dec 17, 2019 3:23:18 GMT -5
(Above: John "Fernando" Cordon, circa 2001. Photo Credit: amw.com archives)
Fugitive Profile as of December 17th, 2019: (Based on amw.com archives, age is from 2002, some information may now be outdated)
Additional Quirks:
1. May be traveling with a Hispanic male, Walter Franco
2. Speaks fluent Spanish
3. From the town of Zacapa, Guatemala
4. May be working in the restaurant business or on construction sites
5. May be driving a blue Toyota Tacoma pick-up truck with a New Jersey license plate # JXA89C
(Above: Ruben Hector Vargas, circa 2001. Photo Credit: amw.com archives)
Fugitive information link such as age, date of birth, no longer shows up, links expired, only additional quirks in 2002 listed for Vargas which are:
1. Speaks fluent Spanish
2. From the town of Zacapa, Guatemala
3. May be working in the restaurant business or on construction sites
4. May be driving a blue Toyota Tacoma pick-up truck with a New Jersey license plate # JXA89C
From the amw.com archives:
Story:
Police in Parsippany, New Jersey, say on the evening of May 12, 2001, John Cordon met his "cousin" Ruben Vargas at a hotel. Earlier in the day, Vargas had also persuaded two 16-year-old girls to accompany them. Police say the four drank whisky and watched the Sopranos together.
Police say when the girls tried to leave the hotel, the men raped one of the girls and sodomized the other. They say when one of the girls ran into the bathroom with her cell phone, Cordon threatened to kill her. After the assault, the girls were able to convince Vargas and Cordon that they would keep it a secret. Police say when the four were leaving the hotel, Vargas and Cordon went back to the room to get the bottle of whiskey. That's when the girls fled. Police believe these men may have been hiding from police from other states for unknown crimes.
web.archive.org/web/20031216010023/http://www2.amw.com/site/thisweek/C/CordonJohn/cordonindex.html
web.archive.org/web/20040622075255/http://www.amw.com/site/thisweek/V/VargasRuben/vargasindex.html
Thoughts? Cordon and Vargas were profiled at the very least on the February 16th, 2002 episode of America's Most Wanted. Our forum member pakman likes to comb through the amw.com archives to see if there's any unsolved cases from the AMW days and I surprisingly missed this one.
I should admit I'm taking a bit of a risk in posting this as I'm only reasonably assuming Cordon and Vargas are still at large as of this posting date (12/17/2019), as opposed to being 100 percent certain. The reason I'm assuming is that there is an article from 2009 in which they mistakenly arrested Ruben Vargas's brother (also, I apologize as that is the only photo I have for Vargas, as well as Cordon), Vargas's brother did not tell police who he really was and was apparently pretending to be him. He pleaded guilty to hindering prosecution and wrongful prosecution.
www.nj.com/news/2009/12/trenton_man_sentenced_for_role.html
It is because of that unique update and no news since, that I'm reasonably assuming Cordon and Vaegas as still at large at this time. However, if either has been arrested in the past 10 years and/or if anyone has any future updates, they are always more than welcome to e-mail our website contact form.
Admin Note #1: Based on alleged crime location, our advice for anyone with information on either fugitive's whereabouts would be to contact Morris County (New Jersey) Sheriff's Crime Stoppers, whose website promises anonymity: copcall.org/sitemenu.aspx?ID=489&404;http://copcall.org:80/tipsubmission.html
Admin Note #2: If you have any news-related updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form