To everyone around them, the Catt family was like any other middle-class family, recent transplants from Oregon to Caty, Texas.
Ronald Catt, 50, had recently gotten divorced after losing his engineering job. His son Hayden, 20, had worked as a front desk clerk at a quaint hotel. And pretty blond Abigail Catt, who went by “Abby,” had recently turned 18 and gotten a job as a Pink Girl at Victoria’s Secret.
The kids, who had been honor students heavily involved in competitive swimming, seemed to be doing well in their new town.
“Finally got the job interview i wanted!” Abby wrote on her Facebook page on Nov. 3. “man im workin my way up to big $$!! so proud of myself ever since i moved to tx. we all have so much potential, some jus need to decide what they are going to do with all of it! there is great things out there, go and find it!”
It turned out that what the family has found may be a load of trouble.
Earlier this month, police arrested them on suspicion of holding up a credit union near Houston. According to authorities, Ronald and Hayden entered the bank wearing orange traffic vests and dark shades. (Ronald allegedly wore a painter’s mask while his son wore a fake mustache.)
After getting away with an undisclosed amount of cash, the men allegedly jumped into a getaway car, driven by Abby.
As investigators tried to piece together what happened, they noticed similarities to another bank heist in August.
And, according to police, they have surveillance video of the Catt men buying the masks and vests at Home Depot. As the investigation has progressed, police are looking into whether the family is responsible for five other robberies in Oregon.
The allegations have surprised their friends and acquaintances. Eric Lundeen, a family friend, told ABC news that the family appeared to be “really solid community members.” He went that Ronald “had the responsibility to take care of his kids and I got to tell you, he was there for them.”
Now all three family members are being held in the Fort Bend County Jail. The father and son were booked on $140,000 bond each, the daughter on $100,000.
