According to court documents, on May 11, 2023, 31-year-old Thomas Kyle Cauther went on a crime spree where he used a tool to smash a glass display case in the Walmart store on Fayetteville Road in Raleigh. He then stole two iPhones from the display.
Officials said when confronted by an employee, Cauther showed her a knife and threatened to harm her. Cauther then rode a bicycle out of the Walmart with the stolen iPhones.
After leaving the Walmart, investigators said Cauther went to the area of Ramsgate Street and Lineberry Drive in Raleigh, where he stole a City of Raleigh truck with a trailer and street sweeper attached. He eventually wrecked the truck and trailer in the parking deck area of Crabtree Valley Mall, where he forced a woman out of her car and drove away while she was still entangled, dragging her with the car.
Authorities said the car was then disabled by OnStar system operators before Cauther was arrested.
The woman was hospitalized after sustaining multiple broken bones.
"This defendant was a one-man crime spree threatening a store clerk, crashing a city truck, and dragging a woman across a shopping center 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."
Cauther pleaded guilty to both charges in April and was sentenced on Thursday to 240 months in prison.