Colo. brothers plead guilty to fugitive crime spree

WALSENBURG, Colo. - Two of three fugitive siblings who were the focus of a nationwide manhunt last summer pleaded guilty Thursday to reduced charges in Colorado.

Ryan Dougherty, 21, and Dylan Stanley-Dougherty, 26, were captured Aug. 10 after a chase in southern Colorado. The trio was accused of shooting at a police officer in Florida, as well as robbing a Georgia bank.

Dylan Dougherty pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree assault and faces up to 32 years in prison. Ryan Dougherty pleaded guilty to five counts of menacing and faces up to 20 years in prison, state court administrator's office spokesman Jon Sarche said.

Their sister, 29-year-old Lee Grace Dougherty, pleaded guilty last week to reduced charges of first-degree assault and two counts of menacing, all felonies. She faces between nine and 28 years when she's sentenced April 30.

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Prosecutors suspect Ryan Dougherty was the driver during the chase and alleged shootout while Dylan used the weapon.

Attorneys for the siblings had questioned whether prosecutors' evidence could prove that the siblings were trying to harm or kill officers, pointing to an apparent lack of bullet holes on police cruisers involved in the chase.

During a September hearing, a Colorado Springs detective testified that Ryan Daugherty told him that they hatched a plan to rob a bank and take the money to flee to Mexico.

Ryan Dougherty had just been sentenced to register as a sex offender for a conviction of sending sexually explicit text messages to an 11-year-old girl.

The siblings' mother, Barbara Bell of East Palatka, Fla., told The Associated Press in August that her son was discouraged by the terms of his probation and feared the conviction would prohibit him from seeing his newborn son.

Authorities in Florida said all three siblings had been living together in Lacoochee, Fla., about 45 miles northeast of Tampa.