The chief financial officer of a Connecticut credit union may have either been the victim or the mastermind behind a plot to rob the institution — with a fake bomb strapped to him.
An article in The Hartford Courant Wednesday said that New Britain. Conn., police were investigating an attempted robbery Monday of the Achieve Financial Credit Union, in which CFO Matthew Yussman sat in the parking lot with a device that resembled a bomb attached to him.
The 46-year-old Yussman had reportedly told police that two intruders had broken into his home and tied up him and his mother, then strapped the device to him and told him to withdraw all of the cash from the credit union or else the device would be detonated and his mother would be killed. A credit union employee called the police about the situation Monday morning.
However, police are now determining whether or not Yussman was actually involved in the plot, particularly after an FBI lab in Quantico, Va., determined that the bomb was a fake, according to the Courant. Police Chief James Wardwell reportedly told a reporter, “We’re looking at all angles,” when asked whether the CFO was a victim or a suspect.
Yussman “is a reported victim and we’re treating him as such,” Wardell told the Courant. But “we’re not excluding any possibilities,” he added.
Police are also looking for the two suspects that Yussman says invaded his home, the newspaper wrote. Wardwell also told the Courant that detectives have been interviewing Yussman’s relatives, business acquaintances, co-workers and others, part of standard police procedures.