The mother and father who robbed a Covington, Louisiana bank last year as their children waited in the getaway vehicle, pleaded guilty this week to first-degree robbery.
31-year old Terry Davidson of Sikeston, Missouri and 25-year old Andrea Matherly of Kankakee, Illinois, were sentenced to 28 years in prison by St. Tammany Parish Judge William J. Burns on Monday. Each faced as much as 40 years in prison.
Davidson was also charged with and pleaded guilty to Unauthorized Entry of an Inhabited Dwelling because he ran into a private home following the robbery. He was sentenced to a separate 6 year sentence on that charge, to run concurrently with the 28 year robbery sentence.
On October 28, 2010, the couple drove their two young children in a 1995 Cadillac Deville to Citizens Bank located on U.S. Highway 190 in Covington. Matherly walked into the bank and reportedly gave the teller a note claiming she was robbing the bank and that she had a gun. An undisclosed amount of cash was handed to her and she fled. Davidson sat waiting in the parking lot of a nearby Auto Zone. The couple sped off as Matherly exited the bank with the cash.
The manager of Citizens Bank jotted down the Cadillac’s Florida license plate number as it sped away and had the staff immediately contact authorities. St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s deputies began a search for the Cadillac.
While authorities were searching for the couple, Davidson entered a home near Bush, Louisiana. He stayed briefly, but left with his family, without harming the homeowner. About 30 minutes after the robbery took place, a deputy on patrol northeast of Covington noticed the Cadillac heading north on Highway 21. He pursued the vehicle and chased it to a dead end street. A search of the vehicle turned up the two small children. No gun was located, but authorities did search the vehicle for explosives. Matherly reportedly told the teller in an attempted robbery that she had explosives.
The couple admitted that they had attempted to rob a Hammond area bank earlier in the week. Authorities also learned that the couple was wanted in connection with a bank robbery in Illinois. Davidson was also sought as a material witness for a murder trial in Illinois.
Following the Illinois bank robbery, the couple fled the state to Mississippi where they stayed for a while before heading to the Northshore area of Lake Pontchartrain, just north of the New Orleans metro area. When they ran out of cash, they hatched the plot to rob Citizens Bank.
Authorities believe it had been a while since the children had eaten. They were taken into the custody by Office of Child Services.
