Catt family

Because Catt's father had been a loan officer in a local bank, he had gained an insider's knowledge of day-to-day banking procedures. Catt remembered his father telling him as a boy of the day the local bank—at which he worked—was robbed. When Catt inquired why no one had tried to stop it, his father told him that the preferred employee response to a bank robbery is to comply with the robbers and give them any money requested (as the money was insured, and the bank would get back any monetary losses it suffered). The first bank Catt robbed was the very one at which his father had worked, just a couple of blocks from where he was living in McMinnville. The robbery went off with no trouble and netted him around $2,500. It was a year before Catt robbed another bank, and he continued, committing another bank robbery every year or so, as the need arose. These usually netted him $5,000–$10,000 per job.[1]

In 2010, again behind on his bills, Catt planned to do another robbery. It was then he realized that with some additional help and the possibility of allowing him to get into the vault, he would be able to get more money during a bank robbery. Feeling unable to trust anyone except family, Catt asked his son to help him with what he referred to as his "part-time job". Hayden reluctantly agreed to join him, and at one point actually accompanied his father in casing a bank targeted by his father as the next to rob.[1] On the day of the planned operation, however, he became too nervous to leave the apartment, so Scott simply robbed the bank himself, showing Hayden how easy it was.[1]

Starting fresh in Texas in 2012, Catt, now with the help of both his children, decided to embark on a crime spree, while the family kept up a facade of normality.[3] The first robbery that Scott Catt perpetrated with the help of his family occurred at a Comerica Bank in Harris County on August 9, 2012.[4] Scott and Hayden entered the bank wearing hats, sunglasses, respirators (surgical masks), gloves, and painters' coveralls, and armed with lethal-looking Airsoft pistols (pellet guns). Abigail waited outside in the family car, a green 1999 Volkswagen Jetta equipped with stolen license plates taped over their own.[1][5]

The second robbery, which occurred November 9, 2012, took place at the First Community Credit Union in Katy. Because preliminary observations of the intended target showed a construction project was taking place nearby, Scott and Hayden wore bright orange safety vests and sunglasses to blend in with the numerous construction workers in the area.[1][4] This time, Hayden wore a fake mustache, and Scott wore his familiar painter's mask. Abigail Catt once again drove the getaway vehicle.[6]

Together, the two robberies netted the family $170,000 from the Texas banks.[7][3]

On September 11, 2015, it was reported that Abigail Catt was granted parole after spending two years and 11 months of her five-year sentence at Fort Bend County Jail. The sheriff of Fort Bend had held her at the jail instead of sending her to the prison due to the circumstances and him seeing her as a victim and wanting to help her prepare for a promising future.[9] Following her release, however, she was re-jailed for over a year due to parole violations.[7]