BRISTOL, Conn.–Six months after a credit union executive was allegedly abducted in his home and forced to drive to the CU as part of a robbery attempt, police are saying only that they continue to investigate the matter.
Once a relatively rare event, the alleged abduction/robbery was the first of three that have taken place at credit unions, plus one more at a community bank, in the first half of 2015. No arrests have been made in any of the cases.
On Feb. 23, Matthew Yussman, CFO at Achieve Financial Credit Union, alleged that he and his mother were held in his home by two armed men who strapped what they said was a bomb to his chest before he was allegedly ordered to drive to the credit union to get cash. Yussman dialed the credit union’s CEO on the way to the credit union and never entered the facility. He was met by police in AFCU’s parking lot. Yussman’s mother, whom he told authorities had been tied to a bed and told there as a bomb beneath it, escaped before police arrived.
The New Britain Herald reported that federal authorities, who have taken over the investigation, have declined any further comment other than to say the investigation remains ongoing.
Yussman’s attorney, Richard Brown, told the New Britain Herald that his client has cooperated with authorities “from day one” and that both Yussman and his mother were victims of a robbery attempt. Yussman reportedly failed a polygraph test over whether he had any involvement, but Brown stated that polygraph experts have also said that the results of the test are not unusual after a traumatic event.
Since the event at Achieve Financial Credit Union two similar abduction/robberies have taken place at credit unions. In April, Mark Ziegler, CEO at Y-12, was kidnapped. Authorities reported that Ziegler and his family were held hostage in their home as part of an alleged attempted robbery and extortion plot engineered by two men and a woman. The crooks were not successful in getting money from Y-12.
In June, the 64-year-old manager of the 8082 Rockcreek Cove office of FAA CU in Memphis, Tenn., was allegedly kidnapped at her home by two men who forced to her travel to the credit union to obtain funds.
That same month, an employee of SmartBank in Tennessee, along with his wife and infant child, were abducted and forced to drive to one of the bank’s offices to make a withdrawal.