PRESTON — A Franklin County resident charged in the shooting of a woman who drove on his private road last June avoided jail time during sentencing earlier this month.

Franklin County District Judge Mitchell Brown sentenced 62-year-old Jeffrey Elgan to 120 days in the county jail but suspended 118 days of the term along with granting Elgin two days credit for time served after his arrest.

Elgan will be required to complete five years of felony probation, perform 120 hours of community service and pay $2,417 in court fees after pleading guilty to two charges in relation to the incident. In accordance with a plea agreement reached with prosecutors in September, those charges were one count of battery and one count of malicious injury to property.

Deputies arrested Elgan in June after he fired a .410-caliber shotgun pistol at a Jeep with two occupants driving away from him following a confrontation on his road at 188 North Highway 36 in Weston. According to reports, two of the shotgun pellets from the discharge hit the female driver in the head.

Still conscious, she and her passenger switched places and phoned police, who met them on the highway.

The woman, a resident of Kearns, Utah, told deputies that she and her friend were out driving on Highway 36 when they saw a side road that looked like a fun diversion and decided to take it. She said they saw no private-property signs, but soon after entering the road, a man on a four-wheeler sped up behind them and got them to pull over.

An argument ensued over whether the roadway was posted “No Tresspassing.”

The man was later identified as Elgan, who the woman said angrily demanded her car keys and said she was going to be arrested. She told deputies his demands made her feel threatened, so she drove away from him with the intention of turning around and leaving the area. That’s when Elgan reportedly drew the pistol from a holster and fired one round at the Jeep.

According to the sheriff’s office, a witness to the incident corroborated the woman’s story.

In addition to injuring the female driver, the gunshot damaged the Jeep, resulting in the second charge against Elgan for malicious injury to property.