ABINGDON, VA—Acting United States Attorney Anthony P. Giorno announced today that a federal inmate currently serving a prison sentence at United States Penitentiary Lee has been sentenced to serve additional federal time after he assaulted a federal correctional officer.

Michael Vaught, age 43, was sentenced in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon on March 31, 2015, for assault with the intent to commit murder. Vaught, who is currently serving a 368 month aggregate term of imprisonment for felon in possession of a firearm and assault with intent to commit murder for convictions arising out of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, was sentenced to serve an additional 240 months of federal incarceration for his assault on the officer.

According to evidence provided by Special United States Attorney Debbie Stevens, on August 17, 2014, Vaught threw scalding hot liquid on the federal correctional officer and stabbed the officer multiple times with a prison made ice pick style weapon that was approximately 9 inches long and sharpened to a point.

The investigation was handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Special Investigative Unit of the Bureau of Prisons. Special Assistant United States Attorney Debbie Stevens prosecuted the case for the United States.