UPDATE: Third Teen Pleads Guilty; Sentenced To 17 Years For University Place Home-Invasion Robbery

Linda Hawkins described how her 86-year-old mother woke up in the early hours of Jan. 19 with a gun pointed at her face.

As her mother slept, four teenagers broke into her University Place home through a kitchen window and entered her bedroom. After she opened her eyes, they went through her house looking for stuff of value.

Had they known, Hawkins said in front of a Pierce County Superior Court judge Thursday, they probably would have chosen another house, as the woman identified in court documents as Nettie Laycock didn’t keep expensive things. She cared more about family – that was the thing that mattered most, her daughter said.

“It’s just a shame that they had to prey on an old and frail woman,” Hawkins said.

On Thursday, the 17-year-old who authorities say planned the home-invasion robbery pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree robbery with a firearm enhancement and first-degree burglary.

Vernon Lee Ward III was then sentenced to more than 17 years in prison. Authorities say he is likely headed to Clallam Bay Corrections Center.

Ward’s plea and sentence came - Miguel Wayne Ramos, 17, and Richard Benjamin Torres, 16 – pleaded guilty and were each sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The fourth teen involved in the incident – Tre’Vonn Rollins — is the one who authorities say first cooperated with police in the days following the robbery. His next scheduled court appearance is in October.

Authorities say they suspect the four were involved with other burglaries throughout the community, but the plea deal involved prosecuting them for less.

According to court documents, the four teens broke into Laycock’s home in the 8800 block of 27th Street West on Jan. 19. Tacoma police found the window broken, the power line to the cordless phone severed and the batteries to the headset removed.

The victim told police that four men wearing bandanas, gloves and socks over their hands woke her up in her bedroom approximately 3 a.m. Two were armed with black, semi-automatic handguns, "and called her by her first name, telling her that they needed money," court papers said.

The woman told police the suspects went through her home and ordered her to write a check for several thousand dollars.

"… (The victim) was so afraid and shaking so badly that she was unable to write clearly," court papers state.

On Thursday, Ward, a former Curtis High student who dropped out of school, told the court and Laycock’s family that he is sorry for what he did. Handcuffed and dressed in gray prison garb, he appeared attentive but showed little emotion throughout the day.

“I just really want to move on with my life,” he said.

For Hawkins, knowing that the people who held her mother at gunpoint – 10 days before her 87th birthday — will finally be in jail brings some closure.

But it can’t erase the nightmares.

Laycock, her daughter says, installed an alarm system for her home and has taken other steps to regain her lost sense of security.

She has lost weight. The woman who grew up with a single mother in the 1920s and believes in the value of hard work is still struggling, her daughter said.

“I know it’s taken some of her life away from us,” Hawkins said.

Still, even after everything her mother has experienced, Hawkins still said that she hopes Ward can turn his life around.