A Durham woman was given an active prison term of six to nine years following her conviction for three counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon and malicious conduct by a prisoner during Catawba County Superior Court.
Taya McCathern, 29, will serve the prison sentence after the Honorable William Long, Superior Court Judge from Iredell County, imposed the terms of the plea arrangement for her on Wednesday, August 9, 2023.
The defendant will serve her period of incarceration in the custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Corrections.
On June 13, 2022, McCathern and a male suspect, both wearing black masks, approached a female victim in her driveway with handguns pointed at her. They forced her to let them in her vehicle and drive them to a different location, demanding money and her phone. When she told them she did not have money, they got out of the vehicle and fled on foot.
Later that same day, the same suspects got out of a car in the parking lot of a business armed with handguns. They pointed the weapons at the two male victims and demanded wallets and cell phones, which the victims handed over.
Through further investigation, Hickory Police investigators were able to develop a description of McCathern, and she was later served with the charges in Durham on June 20, 2022. Officers found the female victim’s phone, two handguns and three other cell phones.
McCathern also spat on an officer in the Catawba County Detention Center on December 12, 2022, while being held there for charges, telling other defendants what she had done and that she would do it again.
The robbery cases were investigated by Cadyn Laffon of Hickory Police Department. Assistant District Attorney Melanie Earles handled prosecution for the State with aid from Legal Assistant Jordan Arney.