A Hickory woman will spend seven to 10 years in prison following her conviction for multiple criminal offenses and admission of her status as a habitual felon during Catawba County Superior Court on Thursday, January 18, 2024.
Conya Denise Montgomery, 46, was given the active prison term by the Honorable Daniel A. Kuehnert, Superior Court Judge from Burke County, after she entered a guilty plea to the offenses.
Judge Kuehnert imposed the sentence after Montgomery pleaded guilty to attempted common law robbery, larceny from the person, financial card theft, four counts of obtaining property by false pretense and attempted obtaining property by false pretense.
The defendant will serve her incarceration period in the custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Corrections.
Montgomery’s prison sentence length was enhanced by prior felony convictions for felony larceny (November 2021), felony forgery of an instrument (August 2006) and possession with intent to manufacture/sell/deliver a Schedule II controlled substance (September 1999), all in Catawba County.
On March 29, 2023, the defendant tried to get a victim to give her money that she did not have. Montgomery told her to get the money from an ATM, but the victim refused. The defendant grabbed the victim’s pocketbook and phone before running away. She later was picked up by law enforcement.
On June 3, 2023, the defendant took another person’s debit card and used it to make purchases in excess of $330 at various locations. Several other attempted transactions and transfers of money were declined by the victim’s bank.
A car break-in on August 22, 2023, led to a debit card being taken and used by the defendant in an attempt to make purchases at a business. The attempted transactions were denied. Video surveillance footage at the business showed Montgomery attempting to make the purchases.
The cases were investigated by multiple officers from Hickory Police Department. Assistant District Attorney Howard Wellons prosecuted the matters for the State with aid from Legal Assistant Meredith Scott.