Child sexual assault charges were dropped today against former Gardner Police Officer Larry J. Landry. Mr. Landry's lawyer said the alleged victim took a bribe in the case.

Mr. Landry, 36, of 38 Meadowbrook Lane, Gardner, was indicted Feb. 24 by a Worcester grand jury on six counts of rape of a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child.



Mr. Landry, who resigned from the Gardner Police Department in October, was accused of sexually assaulting a boy, now 16, on various dates from Jan. 17, 1999, to Dec. 31, 2007, in Winchendon and Gardner.



The charges were dropped in Worcester Superior Court after the district attorney's office said the youth had taken actions that made further prosecution no longer practical. The district attorney's office would not discuss the youth's specific actions that caused the motion to drop the charges.



In a telephone interview today, Mr. Landry's Greenfield-based lawyer, Alexander Z. Nappan, said that two weeks ago, Mr. Landry began receiving messages, including text messages, from the youth, who wanted money. He said there is a record of the messages.



Mr. Landry called his lawyer, who told the youth to stop contacting Mr. Landry, Mr. Nappan said. Eventually, Mr. Nappan said, he decided to give the complainant money. He said the amount was less than $1,000. It was Mr. Nappan's money.

Mr. Nappan said he contacted the district attorney's office and told them of his intentions to pay the alleged victim. Undercover state police helped deliver the money, Mr. Nappan said.



“Defense counsel provided information concerning the victim's conduct in this matter. My office was ethically obligated to investigate,” District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said in a statement. “I directed state police detectives assigned my office to investigate. The results led me to determine that the case should not proceed, and a nolle prosequi was entered. Given the history of this case, I have determined that charges against the victim would not be in the interest of justice.”



Timothy J. Connolly, spokesman for the district attorney's office, said the youth's actions could have opened him up to criminal charges, although he did not disclose what those charges might have been.



“The district attorney's office is not going to proceed with criminal charges against the victim,” he said. “The district attorney's office still believes in the evidence presented to the grand jury that led to the indictments against Mr. Landry.”

Mr. Nappan said his client did not want to pursue criminal charges.



Mr. Landry was looking at 20 years in prison and had already suffered from publicity on the allegations, Mr. Nappan said.



“This is a unique situation where the complainant solicited and accepted a bribe. We did everything right,” Mr. Nappan said today. “We did everything right … Are you going to put your hands in the faith of the jury, or are you going to do what we did?”



Mr. Landry maintained his innocence. Earlier in the case, before it was heard in Worcester Superior Court, Mr. Landry almost pleaded guilty to indecent assault and battery, on the advice of another attorney, Mr. Nappan said.



The decision to solicit money from Mr. Landry gave Mr. Nappan the belief that the alleged victim in the case made up the story. Mr. Nappan said he made a reasonable inference that the complainant made up the story, because money was solicited. He believed the victim did not want to further pursue the case.



Mr. Nappan believes he had a good case to defend if the charges went to trial. He lauded the district attorney's office for its persistence “in following the truth.”

“Larry's only interest in this is getting his life back,” Mr. Nappan said. “He doesn't want to prosecute the complainant for what we believe are false accusations.”