Horse Thieves Rustled Off To Prison

CORTEZ, Colo. – A mom-and-daughter team who robbed Southwest Colorado FCU last year were rustled off to jail on Friday. Donja Vaughn and her 62-year-old mother, Sharon Vaughn, were sentenced to three years and 12 years in prison for stealing horses in Kansas and Utah while they were in the horse-breeding business. “This case indicates that Colorado still takes horse thieves very seriously,” said state Attorney General John Suthers after the sentencing. The mother-and-daughter bandits are scheduled to be sentenced later this summer for the May 2005 robbery of $105,000 from the credit union. Mother and daughter were arrested after police searched their apartment and discovered more than $40,000 in credit union loot hidden there. They first became suspects when Sharon Vaughn tried to pay her back rent with $20,000 in $20 bills stolen from the credit union. The two women tried unsuccessfully to commit suicide after they learned police were on to them.