Cloverdale teen pleads guilty to robbery, gets 5 years in Owen case

SPENCER -- An 18-year-old Cloverdale woman was sentenced Wednesday for her part in a May residential robbery in northern Owen County.

Appearing before Judge Lori Thatcher Quillen in Owen Circuit Court I at Spencer, Mercedes Dawn Caito admitted she and four teenage boys went to the victim's residence with the intent to rob him of valuable items.

Mercedes Dawn Caito

Caito appeared Wednesday for a sentencing hearing on the charge of robbery, a level 5 felony.

Judge Quillen sentenced Caito to five years at the Department of Correction with two years executed and the balance suspended to probation.

Owen County Prosecutor Donald VanDerMoere, a former Putnam County deputy prosecutor, said Caito must serve 75 percent of the sentence under Indiana's new sentencing law. She must also perform 56 hours of community service, attend counseling sessions and abide by a no-contact order with the victim.

The young men involved in the May 25, 2015 incident were:

-- Coleton Gibberson, 17, of Greencastle, charged as an adult, with his charges still pending.

-- Dakota Cary Cutshaw, 17, of Greencastle, charged as an adult. He has pled guilty recently.

-- Two other juvenile boys -- one age 15 from Greencastle and one age 15 from Poland -- both of whom have already been adjudicated in juvenile court as delinquent children.

Caito confirmed that one of the boys possessed a firearm during the encounter and that she and the young men stole various items from the northern Owen County home, injuring the homeowner in the process.

She also admitted that in the aftermath of the robbery, she and the boys traveled to a Putnam County campground to party.

The five teenagers were charged following a joint investigation conducted by Det. Erich Teuton of the Owen County Sheriff's Department and investigator Daniel McBride with the Owen County Prosecutor's Office.