In court, Dougherty siblings explain cross-country crime spree

 

Associated Press

From left, Ryan Edward Dougherty, 22, Dylan Stanley-Dougherty, 27, and Lee-Grace Dougherty, 29, were sentenced Monday in Colorado for shooting at a police officer. They have also been accused of staging a daring bank robbery in Georgia.

They were dubbed the "Dougherty Gang," or "Bonnie and Clyde and Clyde" -- three Florida siblings who embarked on a cross-country crime spree last summer in an attempt to flee to Belize, where they dreamed of living for the rest of their lives.

 

It was not, Lee-Grace Dougherty acknowledged in court on Monday, a well-thought out plan. Lee-Grace, 29, was sentenced by a Colorado court to 24 years in prison on Monday. She pleaded guilty to one count of attempted first-degree assault and two counts of felony menacing.  

"I didn't set out to harm anyone," Lee-Grace said, according to 9News.com, an NBC affiliate in Denver, Colo. "My only thought was to get my brother to another country and help him start another life."


Her younger brother, Dylan Dougherty, 27, was sentenced to 32 years.

The youngest of the trio, Ryan Dougherty, 22, was the one the older two siblings wanted to save from probation and from having to register as a sex offender. He was sentenced to 18 years.

In August, the Dougherty siblings drove from Florida to Colorado, outrunning a police trooper and shooting his tires. They have also been charged with robbing $5,200 from a bank in Valdosta, Ga. and will stand trial there in May. They also face charges in Florida.

They were eventually caught on Aug. 11.

Dylan Dougherty was described as the "trigger man," according to 9News.com. Prosecutors say he fired multiple times at troopers.

Said Assistant District Attorney Clay McKisson, according to 9News.com: Dylan fired, "not once or twice, but 11 times that we know of at the troopers chasing him, without regard for the lives of the officers."

Friends told GQ magazine, however, that if Dylan had wanted to hit the troopers, he would have.

"I can shoot a running rabbit with a $3 pistol," Dylan told the FBI, according to GQ.

According to a feature in GQ, the Doughertys (pronounced dock-erty) hatched their plan to leave the country after Ryan Dougherty was told he would not be allowed, legally, to live with his unborn son because of his status as a sex offender -- when he was 19 he got into trouble for texting a girl he thought was 13, but who was really 11.

He would also have to wear an ankle bracelet, which would cost him $240 a month.

That afternoon, he and his siblings wrote on a piece of paper, worried that the ankle bracelet also captured audio and would reveal their plan.

The next morning, the three siblings loaded up a Subaru with 10 guns and 2,000 rounds of ammunition and a plastic jug of water, according to GQ. Ten days later, law enforcement caught up with them.

In the courtroom in Colorado on Monday, Dylan Dougherty told a judge that he never tried to hurt anybody. He wore a yellow jumpsuit and wore his hair in a ponytail.

"I wish I had done things differently," Dougherty said, according to 9News. "Not sure what I would've done differently. Actions I did take were not my character."


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Discuss this post

I don't know about anybody else but that guy in the middle looks trustworthy. I'd let him watch my kids any time.

  • 4 votes
Reply#1 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 4:39 PM EDT

I second that. Maybe he can start a daycare service at his home after he paroles out.

  • 2 votes
#1.1 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 5:50 PM EDT

The 19yr old was sexting an 11yr old he thought was 13!

NUFF SAID.

  • 3 votes
#1.2 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:47 PM EDT

Lol cause 13 makes the world of difference in that situation.

  • 3 votes
#1.3 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:03 PM EDT

I guess there wont be any family reunions for a while, but since they wont be going anywhere for twenty years or so it will be easy to figure out where to send the Christmas cards.

  • 1 vote
#1.4 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:52 PM EDT

Too bad that moron has already bred.

  • 1 vote
#1.5 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 9:16 PM EDT

Florida...again!!!

@John, did you get a good look at them...inbreeding perhaps? They all look crazy in any event.

    #1.6 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 11:00 PM EDT
    Reply

    "My only thought was to get my brother to another country and help him start another life."

    He was sentenced to 18 years.

    Well the second part of her plan succeeded.

    • 2 votes
    Reply#2 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 4:57 PM EDT

    Wow ....They are missing a few letters in their alphabet soup..... shooting at troopers ? really guys ?

    • 1 vote
    Reply#3 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 5:57 PM EDT

    Three more stupid crackers off the street. Too bad the cops didn't get a chance to end their lives.

    • 2 votes
    Reply#4 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:03 PM EDT

    crackers huh?

    • 3 votes
    #4.1 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:40 PM EDT

    Crackers??. And they pretend only whites are all "racists". Googlie... you know where the term crackers came from don't you?. It was the nickname the slaves gave the white slave owners, due to the cracking sound the whips made. More an insult to the blacks than whites really. Why do you have to take it there?. If anything they are pure white trash... But the racist term could be left out.

    • 3 votes
    #4.2 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:06 PM EDT

    Next lesson, the history of wearing your pants lower reveling your unsightly ass. Were they a b!tch in prison, let's find out!

      #4.3 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:19 PM EDT

      TexasLaw,

      "pure white trash... But the racist term could be left out."

      They can't be simply trash? I've always found "white trash" to be racist. It seems to imply that it is understood that people that are trash are not white.

      • 2 votes
      #4.4 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 9:17 PM EDT

      Here texas Law read up :

        #4.5 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 9:22 PM EDT

        White Trash, It's a term used all the time, not that it makes it any "better" but it's not at all along the lines of Cracker or whatever people want to use. I, apparently not you, but I have never taken White Trash, as racist. Trailer Trash, Trash, White Trash, too me are nothing about racism. But we all see it different I suppose.

        But no I'm not implying that everyone who is not white, is trash. Not at all.

          #4.6 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 9:43 PM EDT
          Reply

          They thought the ankle tracking devise also recorded? Enough said

          • 3 votes
          Reply#5 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:04 PM EDT

          I can't fault them for that. Never, ever trust anything the government hands you. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you.

          • 1 vote
          #5.1 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:39 PM EDT
          Reply

          Well at least they get to start a new life.

            Reply#6 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:04 PM EDT

            she looked like she had too many cocks pummeled thru her face....

            • 1 vote
            Reply#7 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:09 PM EDT

            I think they were robbing to get money for plastic surgery.

              #7.1 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 9:17 PM EDT
              Reply

              Were their parents brother and sister?

              • 2 votes
              Reply#8 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:10 PM EDT

              HA!

              That was my first thought after looking at the mug shots!

              • 4 votes
              #8.1 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:41 PM EDT
              Reply

              maybe with the three of them together they will be able to spell S T U P I D

              • 1 vote
              Reply#9 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:11 PM EDT

              Okay, okay... here we go. CRAZY EYES!!!!! All three of them.... CRAZY EYES!! And @Eddie, you give them far too much credit! LOL Definitely some inbreeding going on here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

              • 2 votes
              Reply#10 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:21 PM EDT

              I think the actions you took were exactly "in your character".

              • 2 votes
              Reply#11 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:23 PM EDT

              I really get tired of the ugly stereotypes thrown out there words like red neck crackers whores n__gers bitches and on and on. Is there any way the people engaging in this behavior can take the time to clean up their minds?

              It is obvious that this family is seriously dysfunctional and most likely were severely traumatized as children. Do I think they should get a pass on their behavior? Absolutely not. Is society partially to blame for what has happened? Partially society is to blame. Many children are seriously messed up by abusive parents and the laws and protective agencies do little to help these kids. If you don't get these kids away from these horrid situations while they are still young then society will be paying for it later. Unfortunately it is the poor and poorly educated that often have multiple children. These parents are often ill equipped financially and in somes cases emotionally to raise their children. When the job is done poorly, these kids may become criminals and burdens to the state.

              Bottom line we either pay for education to reduce the number of children these at risk parents have and offer education on better parenting or we do nothing and wind up paying for incarceration when some of them become criminals. The financial cost is just one aspect you also need to consider the pain and suffering of the victims of crimes as well as the suffering of the children growing up in these hellish conditions. That is not to say that all criminals come from bad childhood upbringings. Some do not. However, the stats show that the majority of the criminals in prison were abused as children.

              • 5 votes
              Reply#12 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:28 PM EDT
              Reply

              Three examples of why inbreeding is just wrong.

                Reply#13 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:41 PM EDT

                Lets Review:

                all charged with Attempted 1st Deg Assault and Felony menacing.

                for this they get slammed with a total of 72 years in prison.

                It appears to be creative sentencing. In reality what happen was one guy shot at a cops tires and the rest were just in the car.

                I can only see where this sentencing would only re-enforce the prospects of not being taken alive by the rest of the criminal community. There doesn't seem to be much head room between this punishment and if they all cut loose on the cop and reduced him and the car to scrap.

                bear in mind there are charges from much more serious crimes of bank robbery and gawd know what from florida.

                Looking at this with a wide angle lens; the actual accumulated damages here are a poltry $5K taken from a bunch of legal thieves (banks) and some bullet holes in the cop car. Far Far less than the cost of trying three people, Three times, in Three places and their care and feeding for the rest of their lives for the tax payers.

                rest of their lives because surly by the time they have been excreted from the processes of the justice system they will have been reduced to useless Felons that

                have no desire or ability to ever be a contributing of the social club we call society.

                It would be in the best interest of everyone if the trio could just be put down like a unwanted pet. Final question is does the youngest subject (subject being a ward of the king) have to wear the ankle bracelet and do the tax payers have to now pay the $240/mo. ???

                • 4 votes
                Reply#14 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:55 PM EDT

                And if they had actually managed to hit the tires?

                One member of the so-called Dougherty Gang — on the run after allegedly shooting at a Florida cop and robbing a Georgia bank — fired an AK-47 out of the window of their Subaru Impreza as it raced south on Interstate 25 at speeds of more than 100 mph.

                http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_18653096

                Trying to hit tires with an AK while hanging out a car window and going 100 mph. I call BS on the marksman argument used by their supporters in the article above.

                • 1 vote
                #14.1 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:13 PM EDT
                Reply

                Just throw the keys away!

                Next.

                  Reply#15 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:20 PM EDT

                  Motivation and social setting not all that different from Ma Barker, Alvin Karpis etc.

                    Reply#16 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:21 PM EDT

                    Wait a minute, it's still a crime to rob banks even though the banks are using tax-payer money that was stolen from the tax payers? Damn, how strange.

                      Reply#17 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:29 PM EDT

                      This is sad AND stupid....more stupid than sad, I'm afraid, but really, anyone stupid enough to KEEP following through with a plan that started falling apart before it got off the ground needs to be out of the public. Bad enough they hatched the plan at all, but to follow through??? Goodness.

                        Reply#18 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:48 PM EDT

                        You know, there are TONS of people out there who KILLED people and don't even get 18 years, let alone over 30. Pretty extreme sentencing, especially when you consider that we the people are paying for it.

                        • 4 votes
                        Reply#19 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:49 PM EDT

                        The sentencing is extreme compared to what criminals receive in punishment for civilians being murdered raped and beaten within an inch of their lives. The government is sending a strong message and the press is letting Americans know it.

                        The passing of S1867 which extended the Patriots Acts right to now detain indefinitely any American citizens considered a threat and deny them a speedy trial.

                        HR347 just passed this past March has now made it a FELONY to peacefully protest on federal lands.

                        HR645 was passed to allow for the funding of FEMA camps and I would suggest you research it yourself to see it this action by the government is a real threat to US citizens.

                        • 1 vote
                        #19.1 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:11 PM EDT
                        Reply

                        "I didn't set out to harm anyone," Lee-Grace said

                        What a difference a year in lockup makes. Before they brought her in she claimed on Facebook she loved killing people and looked forward to murdering cops. Now her Facebook profile has mysteriously gone missing.

                          Reply#20 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:58 PM EDT

                          your making this sh!t up Bro...js

                            #20.1 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:26 PM EDT
                            Reply

                            They look like a bunch of speed freaks.

                              Reply#21 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:10 PM EDT

                              wry it ain't a Beauty contest doode it's a mugg shot...lol

                                Reply#22 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:28 PM EDT

                                These rulings that tell some kid who got in trouble that he can't live with his own baby are f-cked up beyond belief. This is puritanism run amok. I have heard of this time and time again in the most ludicrous of circumstances. No one should be removed from their kids unless there is a bona fide reason. Texting a young teen is no good reason. These rulings are moronic. I'd say that the court ruling provoked this as a matter of fact. It never would have happened if not for such a draconian punishment.

                                • 1 vote
                                Reply#23 - Mon Apr 30, 2012 11:02 PM EDT

                                THANK YOU!! These rules for sex offenders are too much. Not all sex offenders are violent rapists and child molesters but thier lives are ruined....They can't even own a PICTURE of thier own child or grandchild or they will go back to jail for probation violation. They can't live anywhere and in some states are reduced litterally to fields approved by probation officers over night to be homeless.

                                  #23.1 - Tue May 1, 2012 9:52 PM EDT
                                  Reply

                                  I'm sure i'm in the minority when i say that prohibiting an 18 year old to live with this infant child was too stiff a penalty for texting a minor, how is this logical??...does anyone realize how easy for kids to get out of hand with texting?! Kids and cellphones is the root of all evil...inhibitions are at their lowest and things get out of hand. Three lives ruined over one stupid action.

                                  • 1 vote
                                  Reply#24 - Tue May 1, 2012 10:04 AM EDT
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