Woman pleads guilty for role in killing of Pierce County sheriff's deputy

TACOMA, Wash. — A woman accused of driving two men to a robbery in which a Pierce County sheriff's deputy was killed pleaded guilty in Superior Court on Wednesday.

Brenda Troyer, 53, pleaded guilty to first-degree rendering criminal assistance. She will be sentenced in October.

Troyer is accused of driving 34-year-old Frank Pawul and 35-year-old Henry Michael Cardento to the Fredrickson area, where they planned to rob a mobile home, The News Tribune reported.

Deputy Daniel McCartney was killed when responding to the robbery. Cardento was also found dead with multiple gunshot wounds, including a self-inflicted shot to the head.

Pawul pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, unlawful possession of a firearm and conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery in early August. He received a sentence of life without parole, The News Tribune reported.

In her statement on Wednesday, Troyer said she "provided F. Pawul with information as to the location of law enforcement in order that he could avoid apprehension."

Samantha Dawn Jones, 30, is also charged in the case. She is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. She allegedly rode in the car with Troyer and is being held in lieu of $2 million bail, The News Tribune reported.

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According to charging papers, Troyer drove Pawul and Carden near a mobile home in the 20000 block of 45th Avenue Court East in Fredrickson. They planned to rob the home, which reportedly was frequented by drug dealers.

Five people, including two toddlers, were at the home during the robbery, and one escaped through the window and called 911. McCartney, 34, arrived in response to the call and gunfire was exchanged. He died later at St. Joseph Medical Center,

Pawul was found eight hours after the shooting, shivering, soaking wet and bleeding from his hands when he tried to get through a police checkpoint.

Troyer and Jones left when they heard gunshots, court records show.

Surveillance video shows them both waiting together at a local grocery store. Phone records show they both texted with Pawul after the shooting and asked where he was hiding.

Click here to read the story on the Tacoma News Tribune.

Tacoma News Tribune