Abby Catt told ABC's "20/20" that she finally feels like her life is on the right track now that she's expecting a child of her very own.
A Texas woman who was just 18 years old when she was recruited by her family to help them rob banks is working hard to turn her life around.
Abby Catt told ABC's "20/20" that she finally feels like her life is on the right track now that she's expecting a child of her very own.
"I don't want to fall back," she said. "... Life is better on this side."
Abby, whose story is featured on Friday night's "20/20," said that it was her then-20-year-old brother Hayden Catt who convinced her to serve as the getaway driver for him and their dad, Scott Catt, as they robbed Comerica bank in Katy, Texas, in August 2012.
"The way that [Hayden] presented it to me was like, ‘We need you in order to be successful,’ and then it was just like, ‘OK,’” Abby said, adding that she didn't even question the request. “They told me they needed me, so I did it.”
It was their first family heist and they got away with $70,000.
The taste of success inspired them to try again a couple months later, in October, targeting the First Community Credit Union in Katy.
That time, they took an estimated $40,000.
But police were already on their trail, connecting the construction vests worn as disguises by the family to a purchase made on Scott's debit card at Home Depot.
In November 2012, all three were arrested.
Robbing banks was something Scott had done before in Oregon. He told police that after the children's mother died of cancer, he couldn't make ends meet, so he turned to a life of crime, one for which he eventually recruited his children.
Following the arrest, Scott pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and was sentenced to 24 years in prison. Hayden and Abby both took plea deals, with Hayden sentenced to 10 years in prison and Abby to five years.
But the local sheriff took pity on Abby, instead keeping her at the county jail.
"I just feel that she's more of a victim in this," Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls told "20/20" in 2013. "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."
Abby was eventually released after serving nearly three years.
"I'd just like to say thank you to everybody for all the love and support," she said when she was released. "I probably, don't know how things would have turned out without everybody."
But she landed behind bars again for over a year for violating the terms of her parole.
"My problem was that the only people that I knew were the people I had met in the jail," Abby said. "And I'm bored. I need someone to hang out with. I need someone to do something with. And slowly that kind of takes you down the wrong path."
These days, her life is on the upswing. She's expecting with her first child, a baby boy, with her boyfriend.
“Everything changes once you find out you’re pregnant,” she said. “You can’t be selfish anymore, that’s for sure. And I know … I’ve always been a little bit selfish."
Meanwhile, her brother Hayden has three years left on his sentence, but he's hopeful both he and Abby can show the world people can change.
“The best thing that we have right now is we're both young and we've learned huge, life-shattering lessons at a young age,” he said. “I really feel like it's put us ahead of our peers.”
As for Scott, he's found faith behind bars and his children forgive him.
“I know he loves me," said Abby. "I know he loves me as his daughter, so it’s hard sometimes to really get what happened.”
Still, Abby hopes to show her child a different path.
“I just hope to have a stable family," she said. "… And to give [my son] the best life."
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