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Mourners remember LA sheriff’s deputy who had an ‘unmistakable calling’

April 14, 2026

Family, friends and law enforcement colleagues gathered on Tuesday, April 14 to honor the life of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Levi Vargas, who died on March 28 during the annual law enforcement Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay from California to Nevada.

The service was held at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills on the day after what would have been Vargas’ 31st birthday.

Those who knew and loved Vargas described him as funny and faithful, a lover of sports and a devoted family man.

“Because law enforcement is an inherently dangerous profession with no guarantee of a safe return … deputies and officers, as well as their families, often live with the unspoken awareness that any shift could be their last day together,” said Dominic Iraldo, a police officer who led the service. “In this instance, it was during a law enforcement-related running event where the extreme desert heat, not a human, was the primary factor.”

Pallbearers carry the casket of Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Levi Vargas to a hearse at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills on Tuesday, April 14, 2024, in Chino, CA. Vargas died after a medical emergency during the Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay Race last month. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Vargas came from a law enforcement family, with his mother working as a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy at the San Dimas Station, exactly where Vargas would go on to work, and his father working as a correctional officer.

Vargas attended Ruben S. Ayala High in Chino Hills. He showed an interest in law enforcement from a young age, wearing sheriff’s costumes as a child before eventually joining the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department when he was 19 as a custody assistant, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. A few years later, he graduated from the department’s Academy Class 413, serving at Men’s Central Jail, Twin Towers Correctional Facility, and Norwalk and San Dimas patrol stations, Luna said.

“I can tell you, as being the sheriff of Los Angeles County, that he was an amazing deputy,” Luna said.

For Vargas, law enforcement was “an unmistakable calling” and the Sheriff’s Department became his second family, Luna said.

“Friends knew him as a calm, loyal and thoughtful individual. He never talked very much, but what he did say and his actions made it clear that he was valued. He was quiet but somehow hilarious. Without saying a word, at the perfect moment, he could give you a look and let you know exactly what was on his mind,” Luna said.

Vargas was also involved in sports from a young age, a love he carried throughout his life, playing football, soccer and basketball as a child and in high school — memories many friends cherished during the service — and later joining the Sheriff Department’s soccer team.

Vargas’ wife, Amanda, grew up in the same neighborhood, even attending the same high school, but they did not connect until 2021, when Vargas messaged her. They had their first date at a Dodger game. Vargas asked Amanda to the game, telling her a friend had backed out at the last minute. There was no friend, Luna said. That ticket was always meant for Amanda.

She remembered how she felt back then.

“I was driving home, I was getting off on Chino Avenue. And I did something I hadn’t done in a while, which is, I prayed. I asked God to bring a good man into my life, someone kind, genuine and truly good,” Amanda Vargas said. “I promised I would cherish him with all my heart. The next day, Levi asked me on a date.”

On April 24, 2024, the couple was married in a small ceremony, held to allow Amanda Vargas’ father, a retired L.A. County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad sergeant diagnosed with cancer, to attend.

Amanda Vargas recalled movie nights with their pug Penny, her husband’s devotion to his faith and the couple’s dreams of one day having children. On recent trips to Paris, London and Japan, they had purchased baby clothes, books and shoes in hopes of giving them to their future children.

Levi Vargas also offered strong support to Amanda as she navigated her father’s death, she said.

“I’ll never forget listening to ‘Champagne Coast’ after we got married, driving in his Honda. I just started crying. I couldn’t believe how beautiful the day was, or that after everything I’d been through, I’d found someone like him. And even now, I still feel the same overwhelming gratitude that I got to experience a love like that,” Amanda Vargas said.

Friends recalled Levi Vargas’ infectious laugh, his penchant for hosting social gatherings, working out, playing sports and traveling, from road trips in Southern California with his friends to the overseas trips. Vargas and his family were known for their hospitality, his friend Austin Stewart said. Many friends and colleagues described Vargas as more than just a friend, more like a brother, a word he would often use to refer to his friends.

“That’s somebody you want to gravitate towards and just brings positive energy to your life. Another aspect of Levi that I loved is how passionate he was. He would often host sports games and UFC pay-per-views at his house most weekends, and while watching he was always so attentive, bringing so much energy whenever his Dodgers would make a good play or win,” Stewart recalled.

Though Levi Vargas could come off quiet at first, once someone got to know him, colleagues said, they could see he had a strong work ethic, and was humble and intentional.

“He was that rare kind of deputy that led with kindness and humility,” said Jason Kilty, who met Vargas while working at Twin Towers. “Levi was one of the best, hardest working partners out there. We shared a radio car together his final shift before we left for Vegas.

“We were excited to be at the race together and to hang out with our families,” Kilty said, “but that didn’t stop us from working every last minute of that shift.”

In addition to this wife, Levi Vargas is survived by his parents, Oscar and Rosa, and his brothers, Isaiah and Luke.

Mourners remember LA sheriff’s deputy who had an ‘unmistakable calling’ Orange County Register

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Mourners remember LA sheriff’s deputy who had an ‘unmistakable calling’

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