Pinellas County, FL– A 45-year-old Florida man will spend several decades behind bars after causing an accident that killed a grandmother, a dog, and the owner of the vehicle.
Vaughn W. Mongan was sentenced to 27 years in prison, with 64 days of credit served Monday, after pleading guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide and three counts of reckless driving.
Investigators say that on September 3rd of 2021, Mongan drove his friend’s Telsa a “minimum” of 116 miles per hour down a residential street in Palm Harbor despite the speed limit being listed at 30 mph.
Mongan was said to have then disregarded the stop sign at the intersection of Hermosa Drive and lost control of the vehicle.
The vehicle struck a grass embankment that launched the vehicle into the air, through a vinyl fence, and into a home on Caird Way.
“The Telsa continued through the residence crashing partially through the front of the residence,” the Florida Highway Patrol wrote in documents.
69-year-old Donna Rein, who lived at the home died at the scene along with her 14-year-old Yorkshire Terrier.
“It was airborne, and of course, it entered the entire house,” said Sgt. Steve Gaskins said. “It blew out the wall, blew out part of the roof, and again caused fatal injuries to the elderly woman inside.”
One of the passengers and owner of the Telsa, Travis Meisman, was taken to the hospital where he later died.
Three others, who were said to be in the vehicle at the time, were also taken to the hospital with various injuries.
While Telsa’s do have an autopilot feature, investigators reported that it does not appear that Mongan was using it.