About Me
Claudia Vargas is a bilingual investigative reporter at WCAU-NBC10 and Telemundo62 in Philadelphia. Her investigative stories have led to new laws and changes in city policy. She has dug into issues of racial equity within the police department's recruitment practices, exposed the city's discrepancy in how it doled out line of duty death benefits, and uncovered that the city's subsidized workforce housing program was being abused by some of its participants. Her work at NBC10 has garnered several Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards and mid-Atlantic Emmys. In addition, she has reported, written and produced five original true crime documentaries (two of which won Murrows): "Who Killed Barbara Jean?", "Boy in the Box: Naming America's Unknown Child", "Somebody Knows Something: The Disappearance of Dulce", "Alguien Sabe Algo: La Desaparicion de Dulce Maria", "Finding Carlesha."
Claudia was previously an investigative reporter at The Philadelphia Inquirer. In her 10 years at the Inquirer, she reported on government and politics in Philadelphia and Camden, NJ, shining light on the characters and bureaucracies that run those cities as well as the people affected by their decisions. She was most recently a quick-strike investigative reporter, churning out her own investigations within a few weeks but also putting her investigative skills to use during big breaking news and helping out with team coverage. She spent several years in the Inquirer’s City Hall bureau chasing staff and corresponding mayors in both the Nutter and Kenney administrations, as well as covering the 2015 mayoral race and various local and state races in between. She also covered the 2016 Democratic National Convention and uncovered its infamous $1 million bonuses-- which eventually led to a change in state grant policies. As the newspaper's accountability reporter, she used data and open records to dig deeper into local, state and federal agencies affecting everyday Philadelphians from the two-year delays for disability benefit applicants to the pension-padding practice of city workers that could have a longterm effect on taxpayers.
Prior to The Inquirer, Claudia was a public safety reporter for the Democrat & Chronicle in Rochester, NY covering crime and mayhem.
A native Spanish speaker, Claudia was born in Miami and lived in Puerto Rico and Colombia during much of her youth. She spent her middle and high school years in Miami before leaving the Floridian palm trees for "Happy Valley" snow at Penn State University. Starting her freshman year at Penn State, she joined the staff of the Daily Collegian, the student-run independent newspaper on campus, and developed her passion for journalism over the next four years. Claudia spent a semester in Paris studying at Université de Paris- Sorbonne and freelancing for USA Today. She graduated from Penn State with degrees in journalism and international studies.
Claudia is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Investigative Reporters and Editors. She lives with her husband and daughter in Philadelphia’s Fairmount neighborhood.
