Prosecutors: Ex-church Volunteer Sexually Assaulted 2 Boys

By Rebecca Elliott, Jayme Fraser
Houston Chronicle
January 14, 2015

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Prosecutors-Ex-church-volunteer-sexually-6016120.php

Nilson Vargas turned himself in to the Waller County Sheriff's Office. His bond is set at 500,000 dollars. The 39-year-old church volunteer is at the center of a child sex assault investigation.

A Katy man who prosecutors say sexually assaulted two teenage males while serving as a volunteer at a church several years ago turned himself in Wednesday, Waller County authorities said.

Nilson Daniel Vargas, 39, was volunteering at the Christian City Fellowship, a church in Sealy, when he allegedly engaged in a sexual act with a 16-year-old boy in the child's home in Waller County in December 2008, according to an arrest warrant issued last week. The alleged victim told authorities that Vargas had also sexually molested him at the church, among other locations, and that the incidents began when he was 13, the warrant states.

The warrant states that another church member recently alleged "sexual assault of a child by this defendant while the defendant was back at the same church." A press release from the Waller County district attorney identifies the second alleged victim as a young male.

"We believe that there are other victims out there," said First Assistant District Attorney Warren Diepraam, adding that the alleged victims told Waller County authorities that incidents also occurred in neighboring counties. "We hope that this public appeal will get some of those folks to come forward."

Diepraam said Vargas turned himself in Wednesday evening.

Vargas' case is an unusual one, Diepraam and defense attorney Paul Looney agreed.

Looney said that Vargas himself was abused as a young man, and approached him last year wanting to stop his abusive behavior and turn himself in. Vargas checked himself into a treatment facility and, last week, confessed to the Waller County Sheriff's Office. The warrant alleges sexual assault of a child.

According to his arrest warrant, Vargas admitted to all of the offenses alleged in the current case, saying that the assaults occurred in the church, among other locations.

"I've never seen anything quite like it," Looney said. He said his client had no criminal record

The allegations have shaken the close-knit church, where Vargas' and the victims' families have been members for years.

The Rev. Rusty Griffin said the victim in Waller County is the second member of the church to allege abuse by Vargas. A younger man, still underage, came forward months ago, which is when his family and the church first reached out to police. In the course of that investigation, the second teenage boy spoke to Waller County officials.

"You know you wish you could just make it go away or pray that it goes away but you've got to deal with it. It's a fact. This is what happened," Griffin said. According to the Waller County district attorney's office, Vargas served as an occasional volunteer with the Christian City Fellowship for two to three years around 2008. The press release says Vargas contacted at least two young males, gained their trust, and "began improperly touching them and ultimately performed oral sex on them."