Violent suspected MS-13 gang member with long rap sheet arrested after year on the run: police

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Dem lawmakers travel to El Salvador, demand proof of life for suspected MS-13 member

Maryland State Delegate Kathy Szeliga joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss the trips taken by Democratic lawmakers to El Salvador, where they’re calling for the release of a suspected MS-13 gang member deported from the U.S.

A suspected MS-13 gang member with a violent criminal history has been arrested in Nashville, Tennessee, after a year on the run, police said.

According to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD), Leonel Vargas Jr., 24, was arrested Wednesday afternoon. 

Davidson County jail records show that he has been charged with felony aggravated assault by strangulation, felony aggravated burglary, felony probation violation, misdemeanor domestic assault and two counts of misdemeanor theft of property. 

Mugshot of Leonel Vargas Jr. (Metro Nashville Police Department)

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He is not eligible for bond.

MNPD said its Specialized Investigations Division (SID) detectives and federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents, who have been investigating Vargas’ association with the ultra-violent Salvadoran MS-13 gang, coordinated the surveillance that led to the arrest. 

ATF confirmed to Fox News Digital that their investigation into Vargas’ MS-13 ties is ongoing.

 risoners with MS-13 gang tattoos look out of their cell in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on March 26, 2025. (Alex Brandon/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

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Vargas has a long criminal history stemming back to 2019. 

In that year, he was charged with aggravated assault by strangulation, two counts of domestic assault resulting in bodily injury and one count of domestic assault with fear of bodily injury. He was sentenced to probation for those crimes. 

In 2022, he violated his probation and was sentenced to a year in prison, and a year of supervised release. In the same year, a 2021 case for felony evading arrest by motor vehicle and reckless endangerment was reopened. 

An MS-13 gang member gestures in the Quezaltepeque police station May 20, 2013, in San Salvador, El Salvador. (Giles Clarke/Getty Images)

He was found guilty on those charges in 2023 and was sentenced to two years of supervised release. 

Last year, he was charged with felony domestic aggravated assault, burglary and theft, and was on the run from police until they arrested him on Wednesday. 

Earlier this week, FBI Director Kash Patel announced a $5 million bounty for information leading to the arrest of MS-13’s leader in Honduras, Yulan Adonay Archaga Carías. 

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In the United States, the gang has recently been in the news after one alleged member, illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, was deported to El Salvador. 

He was suspected of being involved in labor/human trafficking, according to a 2022 Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) report obtained by Fox News.

Peter D’Abrosca joined Fox News Digital in 2025 after four years as a politics reporter at The Tennessee Star. 

He grew up in Rhode Island and is a graduate of Elon University. 

Follow Peter on X at @pmd_reports. Send story tips to peter.dabrosca@fox.com.