Deputy Levi Vargas of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, San Dimas Station, passed away on Saturday, March 28, 2026. He was 30 years old. He was competing in the 40th Anniversary running of the Baker to Vegas Challenge Cup Relay when he suffered a medical emergency. Despite receiving medical care on scene, he did not survive.
Who Levi Vargas Was
Deputy Vargas joined the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in 2015 — as a Custody Assistant. That is a civilian position, working inside the jail system. He learned this department from the inside, doing work that most people never see and never think about, before he ever put on a sworn deputy’s badge.
He later graduated from Academy Class 413 and became a sworn deputy. He served in several assignments throughout his career, most recently at San Dimas Sheriff’s Station.
The department described him as known for his professionalism, commitment, and compassion to the communities he served. He is survived by his wife, his parents, his siblings, and his extended family.
He was 30 years old.
What Baker to Vegas Is — and What It Means
For those outside the law enforcement community, Baker to Vegas is not a fun run. It is 120 miles of desert highway, starting in Baker, California and finishing in Las Vegas, Nevada. Twenty runners per team. Twenty legs of varying length and difficulty. Hot days, cold nights, and nothing but asphalt, will, and team pride between the start line and the finish.
The race has been run since 1985. This year’s edition drew upwards of 3,000 runners from public safety agencies across the country and around the world. Teams from Oklahoma, Texas, New York, Canada, and Germany competed alongside local departments. The LASD alone fielded multiple teams, as it has every year.
This is not a race you stumble into. You train for Baker to Vegas. You qualify. You earn your spot on the team. You carry your station’s name on your back across some of the most unforgiving terrain in the American Southwest. And you do it because this job, at its best, builds the kind of brotherhood that demands you show up — even when it’s hard, even when it costs you something.
Levi Vargas showed up. That matters.
To His Family
I know what it means to be part of this family, and I know that the grief you are carrying right now is not carried alone. Every officer, every deputy, every retired cop who hears this news today feels it too.
Your husband, your son — he was one of us. And we do not forget our own.
Rest easy, Deputy Vargas.
San Dimas has the watch.
