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Teen takes plea deal for arson, burglary
By CARRIE JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer INVERNESS -- A Citrus County teen accused of breaking into a Crystal River house and setting it on fire pleaded no contest Thursday to charges of arson, grand theft and burglary. Matthew T. Vangordern, 17, could have accepted the plea agreement or faced prosecution in adult felony court. During a court hearing Thursday, he opted for the plea, which calls for him to be placed in a Department of Juvenile Justice facility. Vangordern will be incarcerated until he can be evaluated psychologically. Juvenile Justice officials then will determine where he should be placed and the length of his sentence, Assistant State Attorney Jeffery Smith said. But Pamela Davis, the woman who owned the residence destroyed in the Jan. 25 fire, argued for a harsher punishment. Her mother, Delores Eccher, 68, lived in the house at 6849 W Buckberry Court for the past three years. Eccher died Dec. 9, and her property -- including a doll collection valued at more than $3,000 -- was destroyed in the fire. "This is just a horrible, horrible thing that has happened," Davis told Circuit Judge Ric Howard during the hearing. "I don't know if he realizes what he has done." The Citrus County Sheriff's Office says Vangordern broke into the house about 4 a.m. and removed a vacuum cleaner, a telephone, a stereo and three televisions. His friend Louis Page, who lives across the street from the burned residence, helped him hide the items, authorities allege. Page, 19, has been charged with grand theft. He is being tried as an adult. The judge chastised Vangordern during the hearing. "You've made some incredibly dumb decisions," Howard said. "You just tore a family up." But the judge also commended Vangordern for stepping forward and taking responsibility quickly. After the hearing, Davis and her sister, Nancy Lundy, said Vangordern's sentence was too lenient and the teen should spend time in prison for robbing them of their memories of their mother. "What he was given doesn't equal what he took away from us," Lundy said.
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