WORCESTER, Mass. – A state judge denied defense motions to dismiss charges and suppress evidence in a 2002 robbery of $210,800 at Wyman-Gordon FCU staged by the office manager and her husband.
The couple, Susan Carcieri, 57, and George Labadie, 49, are also charged with attempted counterfeiting and possession of counterfeiting equipment, based on items police said they seized during a search of the couple’s home after the reported robbery. Later on, police found some of the stolen credit union cash stuffed underneath the home’s aluminum siding, where a relative testified she saw Labadie hide it. Investigators said they also recovered what were described as "two sheets of the backs of $10.00 dollar bills."
Police said about a half-hour before Carcieri called 911 and reported a robbery at the credit union on the morning of Aug. 27, 2002, Judith Brown, Mr. Labadie’s sister-in-law, claimed to have seen Mr. Labadie kneeling by a hole in the siding of his house with banded money.
The motions to dismiss were based on the defendant’s allegations that police engaged in egregious misconduct by detaining and questioning them without probable cause or reasonable suspicion and without allowing them access to their lawyer. The couple further charged that the indictments against them were sought in retaliation for their filing of a civil lawsuit against police in federal court.
The husband and wife alleged in their motions to suppress evidence that police conducted searches of their home and business, a gas station on Grafton Street, without a warrant and violated their rights by destroying or damaging their property in the process.
