Felony charges reinstated after Bay County man is charged with trio of misdemeanors
 

By LaNia Coleman | The Bay City Times

March 02, 2010, 8:05PM

Matthew L. Vaughan had a sweet deal.

 

All the 22-year-old had to do was stay out of trouble until May 17 and he would have been able to go about his life unfettered by the specter of two felony charges.

 

But now he’s sitting in the Bay County Jail.

 

Or, as Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran said it when he sentenced Vaughan on Monday: “Your lawyer worked out an incredible deal and you blew it in spectacular fashion.”

 

Vaughan, in 2009, was charged with larceny in a building and retaining a financial transaction device without consent, court records show.

 

He pleaded guilty in April and Sheeran delayed sentencing as part of a plea deal that defense attorney Jason P. Gower worked out with prosecutors.

Under the terms of the deal, Vaughan would have been allowed to withdraw his guilty pleas after the one-year delay in sentencing and the charge would have been reduced to a misdemeanor.

 

It all hinged on Vaughan staying out of trouble.

 

But then he got busted on a pair of shoplifting charges and driving on a suspended license. Gower said the items he was accused of stealing were worth about $20.

 

“Now he’s saddled with these two felonies on his record and he has no one to blame but himself,” Gower said.

 

Sheeran sentenced Vaughan to 45 days in jail for each of the two original counts. The sentences will run concurrently.

 

Vaughan still caught a break from the judge who could have sent him to jail for nine months.

 

A court-appointed attorney will represent him on the misdemeanor charges which are still pending.