Last Updated on January 4, 2018 by CCAR Staff
A San Bernardino man accused of killing a 23-year-old woman in a hit-and-run collision on Christmas night in Jurupa Valley was charged Wednesday with DUI gross vehicular manslaughter and other felonies.
Jude Joseph Vargas, 30, is accused of causing the wreck on the westbound 60 Freeway that claimed the life of Hillary Hicks, 23, of Ontario.
Along with the manslaughter count, Vargas is charged with hit-and-run resulting in great bodily injury, presenting a forged document to authorities and a sentence-enhancing allegation of fleeing the scene of a crime.
He’s being held in lieu of $250,000 bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside and is slated to make his initial court appearance Wednesday afternoon at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
Vargas was arrested the morning following the fatal collision, but he was released from jail two days later due to what CHP Officer Dan Olivas described as “technicalities” that delayed investigators’ report to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office seeking a criminal complaint
against the defendant.
Vargas was re-arrested immediately after being released, and the case was submitted to prosecutors Tuesday, culminating in the charges.
Hicks was struck from behind about 11:30 p.m. Dec. 25 along the westbound 60, just west of Mission Boulevard.
Olivas alleged that the victim was in her 2004 Honda CRV when the driver of a 2008 Toyota Sienna — Vargas — plowed into the rear of her compact SUV, causing Hicks to lose control of it.
“The Honda veered to the right, traveled off the right-side edge of the roadway, where it overturned down the embankment and collided with a tree,” Olivas said. “The victim was ejected from the vehicle as a result of the collision.”
Hicks was taken to Riverside Community Hospital, where she died about 2:50 a.m. Dec. 26.
According to Olivas, Vargas’ Toyota was found near the crash, abandoned on the side of the road.
The CHP alleged that Vargas went to the Chino Police Department hours later and reported that his Toyota had been stolen, but after an investigation, he was arrested.
According to San Bernardino County Superior Court records, the defendant has prior convictions for creating a public disturbance and petty theft.
