Former Dresden Officer Sentenced to Probation and Community Service

Former Dresden Police Officer Lane Vargus was sentenced in Judge Jeff Parham’s Weakley County Circuit Court for a Class C Felony charge of Tampering with Evidence which carries a sentence of 3-15 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000.

On March 6, Lt. Kerry Workman with the Weakley County Sheriff’s Department was notified of a law enforcement officer employed with the Dresden Police Department that had possibly tampered with evidence recovered from a traffic stop.

Workman was informed that Officer Lane Vargas had conducted a traffic stop on Oct. 28, 2023 at approximately 12:41 a.m. on a vehicle traveling on Hwy 22 that was exceeding the posted speed limit.

During the course of the stop, Vargas recovered approximately 2 grams of marijuana from the passenger of the vehicle and issued a state misdemeanor citation for the marijuana. The recovered marijuana Vargas was in possession of did not get entered into evidence at the Dresden PD, nor was the citation issued given to Weakley County General Sessions Court.

Workman obtained and reviewed Vargas's body camera footage from the traffic stop as well as the citation that was issued from Dresden Police Chief Bryan Chandler. The citation was located in Vargas's filing cabinet inside the Dresden PD.

On March 6, Workman spoke with Vargas about the above incident and the whereabouts of the marijuana he recovered from the traffic stop. Vargas stated he had gotten rid of the marijuana but did not remember how. Vargas stated he did not turn the citation into General Sessions Court due to him messing up on the citation while in the process of filling it out.

Workman observed the citation to be filled out correctly with a court date as well as the defendant’s signature. The defendant’s address was the only section of the citation not completed. Based on these findings, Lane Vargas was charged with Tampering with Evidence and Simple Poss. of Sch. VI Marijuana and Vargus was later indicted for Official Misconduct.

Vargus received a judicial diversion for the Tampering with Evidence charge and received 3 years of supervised probation and 100 hours of community service. All other charges were dismissed. Upon completion of all terms, Vargus can have move for expungement.