Fort Bend County Jail The Catt family
Abby Catt, who has bounced in and out of jail over the past six years for robbing banks with her father and brother, is a subject of ABC News’ 20/20, which airs on Friday, June 28 a 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. ET on ABC.
According to an ABC News press release, the two-hour-long documentary will feature an exclusive interview with Chrystal Fassett, a former bank teller who was in the middle of one of the Catts’ robberies. In addition, viewers will hear from Susie Gregory, who volunteered at Abby’s jail and took her in when she received parole in 2015, and Joanna Voss, Abby’s aunt. There will also be interviews with investigator Jeff Martin, who worked on the case, Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls, and Texas Monthly reporter Skip Hollandsworth.
The documentary is also said to feature interrogation tapes, footage from Hayden and Abby’s emotional reunion before they parted ways to serve their sentences in 2013, and an interview with Abby after she received parole in 2015.
“How did such an ordinary family turn into bank robbers – waving pistols?” ABC 20/20 wrote on Facebook in an advertisement.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Abby Was 18 Years Old When She Made it “a Family Affair’
According to an article by interviewee Skip Hollandsworth for Texas Monthly, the Catt family lived in the Nottingham Place apartments on Dominion Drive in the Houston suburb of Katy, Texas.
According to a video, in which Abby sits down with ABC News Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman, Scott Catt sent his son, 20-year-old Hayden, to ask his daughter, 18-year-old Abby, if she would rob banks with them.
Hollandsworth wrote that one evening, Abby was sitting on her bed listening to Snoop Dogg when Hayden came in to talk. “I need to tell you something,” said Hayden. “Dad’s a bank robber, I’m going to become one too, and we want you to join us.” Hayden said they wanted her to be their “wheelman.” At the time, Abby was working as a “Pink Girl” at a Victoria’s Secret store.
In an interview, Abby said her father “laid it all out,” telling her that he would buy her a new car and get her an apartment.
2.The First Bank the Catt Family Robbed Was Comerica Bank
Hollandsworth wrote that, on the morning of her first robbery in August 2012, Abby Catt drove her 1999 green Volkswagen Jetta five minutes down the road with her father Scott and her brother Hayden to the strip mall where their first target, Comerica Bank, was located.
They planned the robbery for August 9, because Abby had the day off from her job at Victoria’s Secret.
The Jetta was reportedly parked outside for about thirty minutes while the trio sat in wait. Scott and Hayden dressed in disguises and grabbed their airsoft pistols, which looked like real guns but only shot plastic pellets. Once her father and brother were ready, she dropped them off a few stores down from the bank and parked in an ally to wait.
According to an ABC News video, Scott and Hayden were in and out of the building swiftly and Abby drove them home in the getaway car, which had been outfitted with stolen plates.
Abby said her father was in her ear the entire half-mile ride home, instructing her not to drive fast. She didn’t.
“I was scared,” Abby said in an interview. “It was something you just wanted to be over with.”
And so it was. The first robbery went off without a hitch. The Catts pulled in almost $70,000. According to Texas Monthly, Scott kept his promise and bought Abby a $12,600 Ford Focus.
3. Abby Was Tasked With Scouting the Second Bank & it Made Her ‘Very Nervous’
After the sucess of their first robbery, and the subsequent spending of all the money, Scott and Hayden scoped out their second target, First Community Credit Union, according to Hollandsworth. Abby was tasked to scout out the building so the family could make a plan.
“I was very nervous to do that because I felt like everybody knew what I did,” Abby told Gutman in an interview.
On October 1, 2012, Abby reportedly took another day off of work from Victoria’s Secret. Again, she drove her brother and father, this time to the First Community Credit Union, where they pulled off another flawless heist. This time they pulled $29,953.
Scott was in Abby’s ear again, but not for the entire ride.
“By the time we got on the highway he was fine,” Abby said in the interview. “He relaxed a little bit and we drove home.”
4. Abby Escaped Serving Time in Prison
Hollandsworth reported that the Catt family was set to rob a third bank on November 8, 2012, but Abby warned of too much foot traffic, so they called it off. However, the next day, after a detective with the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office connected the dots, Scott, Hayden, and Abby were all arrested.
According to ABC, Scott told the police that he had robbed several banks in Oregon alone before he moved his family to Texas and enlisted his children. Scott pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and was sentenced to 24 years in a Texas prison. Hayden and Abby both accepted plea deals. Hayden received a 10-year sentence and Abby a five-year sentence.
Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls told ABC he decided to keep Abby Catt at the county jail instead of sending her to prison.
“I just feel that she’s more of a victim in this. So my goal is to try to educate her, get her where she could get her GED and try to teach her some type of a skill set here so when she gets out she can lead a productive life,” Nehls told “20/20” in a 2013 interview.
5. Abby Has Forgiven Her Father & is Waiting For Father and Brother to Come Home
“I know he loves me,” Abby said in an interview. “I know he loves me as his daughter, so it’s hard sometimes to really get what happened.”
When asked if she could get a message to her brother, Abby said it would be, “I love you.”
According to ABC, Abby is now an expectant mother, hoping to finally turn her life around. She has a boyfriend now and the two are expecting a son.
“I just want to progress now, I don’t want to fall back,” Abby Catt told “20/20.” “[I’ve] grown up a little bit… just life is better on this side.”