Bay County Woman Gets 50 Years For Meth Lab Involvement

A Bay County woman has been sentenced to a 50 years prison term after pleading guilty for her role in a meth lab explosion that injured her baby.  Tessa Wagy entered the plea after rejecting a prosecution deal that could have resulted in a shorter sentence.

By agreeing to the plea deal, Wagy would have received a 15 year sentence in exchange for testifying against the child’s father, John Osborn, who also faces trial.  Instead, she entered a straight up “no contest” plea and placed her fate in the hands of Judge Dee Dee Costello.  The judge gave her 30 years for manufacturing meth and 20 years for child abuse.

When the house Wagy and Osborn shared in the Sand Hills of Bay County burned in August 2009, investigators were led to believe it started as a grease fire.  They soon ruled it was the result of a meth lab explosion.

“This child was burned because of what the parents did,” Sheriff Frank McKeithen said Wednesday.  “The parents were not being parents, they were abusing the child as far as I’m concerned and as an end result, the child is scarred for life.”

Prosecutors said the couple’s daughter Johnna, who was one year old at the time of the incident, is permanently disfigured and has endured multiple surgeries and physical therapy.  The case prompted McKeithen to ramp up the war against meth.  After Wagy’s sentencing, he said the justice system worked.

“I’m not going to wave a flag of victory for this, because we have casualties,” said McKeithen.

Defense attorney Rusty Shepard is representing John Osborn.  Shepard said Wagy’s guilty plea and refusal to testify against his client won’t change the defense strategy.  Osborn has already entered a not guilty plea in the case.

“This is America and our judicial system requires that each case be tried on its individual merits, so whatever Ms. Wagy does has no effect on our case,” said Shepard.  “Mr. Osborn has pled not guilty and he is very much looking forward to having his day in court.”

Sheriff McKeithen said the events of that August night should be a lesson.  “Something we learned from this is you can be a parent and you can be a meth head, but you can’t be both,” he said.

Greg Wilson, Chief Assistant State Attorney, said Wagy’s testimony would have been an important part of proving the case against Osborn, but the state will proceed with the evidence it has and hope for a similar outcome.

Osborn is scheduled to go on trial November 29.