The case has been dropped against a former Burlington police officer who’d been accused of sexual misconduct with a child under age 16.
Arthur Cyr, who once headed the Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations, which investigates child abuse, was charged in January 2019 with a felony: lewd and lascivious conduct with a juvenile under 16 years old.
The juvenile reported that Cyr had touched her inappropriately on New Year’s Eve in 2016 at a residence in Bristol, nine months after he retired from the police force.
On Friday, the Addison County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a notice to dismiss that charge. Kim McManus of the State’s Attorney’s Office declined to comment on why the case was dismissed, because of the “sensitive nature” of the charge.
Cyr’s attorney, Brooks McArthur, said that, after sworn statements were collected from witnesses, it became “clear that the evidence just didn’t support the charge.”
McArthur said the state’s attorney’s office attended the sessions in which witnesses gave depositions, ultimately agreed with his assessment, and decided to dismiss the case.
“The facts didn’t add up,” McArthur said. “People were saying things that, when you applied logic and reason, made the claims less credible.”
The Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations received the complaint against Cyr in late 2018, but because of the conflict of interest, passed it onto its “sister unit,” the Northern Unit For Special Investigations. The case was investigated by a state police trooper, the Vermont Department for Children and Families and the Addison County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Throughout the case, Cyr maintained he’d been falsely accused, McArthur said. If Cyr had been convicted, he would have faced between two and 15 years behind bars, and up to $5,000 in fines.
“There’s never been any doubt on the defense side that he was innocent of this,” McArthur said.
McArthur said that the case was “fully investigated,” and he doesn’t expect any more evidence to be produced.
“He’s feeling vindicated,” McArthur said. “He’s feeling relieved that this is finally over for him.”
Read the story on VTDigger here: Charge dismissed against ex-cop who’d been accused of lewd conduct with minor.