A Garner man was sentenced today to 240 months in prison for the robbery of a Raleigh Walmart store and the carjacking of a woman at Crabtree Valley Mall. On April 8, 2024, Thomas Kyle Cauther pleaded guilty to both charges.
“This defendant was a one-man crime spree threatening a store clerk, crashing a city truck, and dragging a woman across a shopping centre parking lot in a carjacking,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley. “Cauther’s spree caused unspeakable trauma to victims and wrecked a city street sweeper. Today, it is Cauther whose been swept off the streets – for the next 20 years. Hopefully, today’s sentence brings some peace or closure to the victims and community. We are partnering with the City of Raleigh to ensure brazen threats to public safety, like Cauther, are put on a fast track to federal prison.”
According to court documents and other information, on May 11, 2023, Cauther, 31, used a tool to smash a glass display case in the electronics section of the Walmart store on Fayetteville Road in Raleigh. Cauther retrieved two iPhones from the smashed display. When confronted by a Walmart employee, Cauther displayed a knife and threatened to harm her. Cauther then rode a bicycle out of the Walmart with the stolen iPhones.
After leaving Walmart, Cauther travelled to Ramsgate Street and Lineberry Drive in Raleigh, where he stole a City of Raleigh truck with a trailer and street sweeper attached. Cauther eventually wrecked the truck and trailer in the parking deck area of Crabtree Valley Mall.
Once the City of Raleigh truck was disabled, Cauther approached a woman sitting in a vehicle in the Crabtree Valley Mall parking lot. He opened her car door and removed her from the vehicle. Cauther then got into the vehicle and began to drive away while the carjacking victim was still entangled in the vehicle, causing her to be drug by the vehicle as Cauther drove away.
Raleigh Police engaged in a pursuit of the carjacked vehicle. Eventually, OnStar system operators remotely disabled the vehicle, and Cauther was apprehended. The carjacking victim was hospitalised after sustaining multiple broken bones.
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