Shanna Spaulding, the woman who earned the nickname “Catwoman” after she robbed two Manhattan boutique stores donning a cat mask, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday, Feb.1.
In December 2011, Spaulding, 29 and who was the lead singer in a death-metal band called Divine Infamy, was found guilty of three armed robberies that took place during the summer of 2010. She wore the cat mask during the two Manhattan robberies, one at a shoe store on Astor Place in lower Manhattan and the other at a sportswear shop in SoHo. She also robbed a store in Astoria. In that case, she wore a full-length Burqa and spoke in a fake Arabic accent. Spaulding was arrested just minutes after the SoHo robbery.
According to the New York Daily News, prosecutor Craig Ortner noted that Spaulding had a toy gun and targeted young women who were working at the stores.
“She has no one to blame but herself,” Ortner said in the News article.
Spaulding’s defense lawyer, Lori Cohen, said in the News story that she had no prior criminal history and that her boyfriend forced her to commit the crime. Cohen asked Justice Richard Carruthers for a five year sentence.
But the justice was not lenient on Spaulding, deciding to give her the 10 year sentence.
According to several reports, Spaulding burst into tears as soon as the sentencing came down. As court officers led her out of the courtroom, she screamed for the officers to release her and she insisted that she was innocent.
