A Newton woman accused of stealing over $78,000 from a rural Kellogg man’s checking account last year is scheduled to be sentenced on March 3rd. Jasper County District Court Judge Terry Rickers set the sentencing date earlier this week after accepting Michelle Mary Vaughn’s guilty pleas to four counts of Forgery, a Class D felony, and one count of 1st Degree Theft, a Class C felony. 

According to the criminal complaint, 51-year-old Vaughn took sixteen checks from the victim and wrote various amounts to herself. She then signed the victim’s name on the checks and used mobile deposit to deposit each check into her savings and checking accounts. Authorities say the sixteen checks Vaughn illegally deposited between January 10th and August 26th this past year totaled $78,901.