NEW HANOVER COUNTY — A convicted felon was found guilty of firearm offenses after a jury trial in New Hanover County Superior Court.
51-year old Michael Vaughn of Hampstead was found guilty of attempted possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and providing materially false information to a firearms dealer after attempting to purchase a shotgun in Wilmington and falsifying a firearms transaction form to conceal past felony convictions. Law enforcement was notified after Vaughn failed a background check.
Judge Bob Cherry sentenced Vaughn to a total 8 months minimum and 19 months maximum in the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections followed by 3 years of supervised probation. The case was the first jury trial on providing false information to a firearms dealer in the sixth prosecutorial district.
“The falsifying federal firearms statute is only a few years old and is seldom utilized in most jurisdictions across the state,” district attorney Ben David said in a statement. “However, we will continue to use this law and any others that we can to keep firearms out of the hands of prohibited possessors such as this defendant.”
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