End of road for 'Thelma and Louise'

One of the female crime duo nicknamed "Thelma and Louise" was found guilty yesterday of robbing a man after luring him into a phony date.

Rose Marie Turford, a 36-year-old nurse and mother of three, stood motionless and silent as the verdict was read out in a Houston court.

The same six-man, six-woman jury that found her guilty must decide her punishment, which could be life imprisonment.

Turford and her cohort Joyce Carolyn Stevens became known as "Thelma and Louise" after the 1991 film starring Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon when they, like the two fictional characters, took off on a crime spree. A Canadian, Turford was married to a computer executive, and lived in a quiet Houston suburb before the crime spree.

Turford was convicted of handcuffing and robbing a businessman, Javeed Gondal, when she went to his home last year. The two had met through a dating service that Turford and Stevens used to find victims.

Police said Turford and Stevens, 31, robbed as many as 10 men of a total of $250,000 before fleeing to Canada in May. They were captured four months later in Toronto and returned to Houston for trial.

Stevens earlier pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated robbery and got a 10-year prison sentence, but Turford chose to go on trial.