Fillmore man gets four-year sentence for altering handgun

A 25-year-old Putnam County man has been sentenced to four years in the Indiana Department of Correction for altering the identifying marks on a stolen handgun.

As a result of a plea agreement reached with the Putnam County Prosecutor's Office, Derek F. Vaughn, Fillmore, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Denny Bridges to four years in prison with two years of time to be executed.

Vaughn pled guilty to the Class C felony of altering the identifying marks on a handgun in return for the prosecution dropping the charge of theft, a Class D felony.

Vaughn could have received as much as eight years prison time in the case.

He was originally charged with the July 7, 2013 theft of two handguns from the farm shop property of Richard Leisure, just down the road from the Vaughn home in the Fillmore area.

Court documents indicate Vaughn took a stainless/nickel .357 magnum pistol and a Desert Eagle Magnum Research .44 Mag handgun from the farm shop. He then reportedly sold the .357 pistol to a nephew for $20 before warning him that the serial numbers on the firearm had been filed off.

Vaughn, who was arrested by Putnam County Sheriff's Department Deputy Josh Boller on July 8, is being held in the Putnam County Jail, awaiting transfer to DOC, pending results of a Clay County theft case, court officials noted.