25 Investigates: Woburn court worker charged with witness intimidation retired, collecting a pension

WOBURN, Mass. — A former long-time employee of Woburn District Court is accused of going too far to protect her son. Anchor and Investigative Reporter Kerry Kavanaugh got a tip on this story and started digging. 25 Investigates obtained court records that reveal an alleged conspiracy between a mother and son, who was incarcerated the time. That man did get out of jail on bail and months later he’s accused of fatally shooting another man.

Marie Laine Sylvestre, who also goes by Marilyn Olivier, worked at Woburn District Court for just shy of 29 years, according to Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court spokesperson Erika Gully-Santiago. Sylvestre worked as a case specialist from June 30 1993 to June 24, 2022.

According to records obtained by 25 Investigates, Sylvestre was inside the courthouse where she worked in June of 2022 when she called one of her son’s alleged victims trying to cut a deal.

25 Investigates started looking into those records after a shooting at a Woburn home on Washington St. in February.

Tyler Olivier, 26, is charged with possession of a firearm and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in that deadly shooting.

But a tipster told Kavanaugh there was more to this story and that we needed to look back at another violent incident that happened at this same address less than two years ago.

25 Investigates started pulling court records from several courthouses traveling to Woburn, Brockton, Somerville and Worcester.

We found in August 2021, Tyler Olivier was accused of stabbing two people in the head: a pregnant woman and the father of her child. The woman ended up needing over 100 stitches, according to court records. Woburn police had issued summons – but did not detain – Olivier the day before the stabbing for threatening to kill the woman and her unborn child.

Over the next 11 months, the courts deemed him dangerous twice. But by June, Olivier was up for bail.

And court records reveal, his mother Marie Laine Sylvestre wanted him home.

Investigators included a transcript of a phone call between Sylvestre and Olivier from jail on June 10th, 2022,

MARIE LAINE SYLVESTRE: “I can’t wait for you to come home

TYLER OLIVIER: “That’s why I need you to do whatever you can.”

MARIE LAINE SYLVESTRE: “I know. I know. I know.”

TYLER OLIVIER: “This <expletive> gotta give. I need you to pull out all the stops.”

According to the documents, the female stabbing victim told investigators Sylvestre called her asking her to testify at the bail hearing and tell the court she no longer feared Tyler. And allegedly Sylvestre was willing to pay.

Here’s what the victim recalled to investigators about a call she received on June 13th, 2022:

VICTIM: “What is your son worth?”

MARIE LAINE SYLVESTRE: “What are you thinking??

VICTIM: “$20-$25,000.00.”

MARIE LAINE SYLVESTRE: “I don’t have it. Will you consider $10,000.00?”

VICTIM: “I will think about it and discuss with my family.”

The records go on to reveal financial offers Sylvestre allegedly also made to the male victim to not participate in the case against her son.

Ultimately, investigators say no money was exchanged. And the victims did not change their stories.

But, Tyler was granted bail with conditions during the June 2022 bail hearing. This time, the state did not deem him too dangerous to be released.

“A judge will only hold somebody if they find that they are so dangerous that there are conditions that could ensure the safety of a particular person or the public in general,” said Peter Elikann, a Massachusetts defense attorney. Elikann is not affiliated with these cases but examined them with us.

“Does it raise any red flags to you, when you see what this person is accused of, that when they are eligible for bail, that they get it,” Kavanaugh asked Elikann.

“A judge doesn’t want to hold somebody, take away their liberty when they haven’t been found guilty yet,” Elikann said. “On the other hand, if they are concerned about a danger to the public, they have to factor that in, and it is a really tough balancing test.”

One week after being released in June 2022, Tyler Olivier was arrested again, accused of conspiring with his mother to intimidate the woman he allegedly stabbed. He was deemed dangerous again following that arrest.

But four months later, when eligible for bail on the new charges, he was released in October on $5,000 bail.

And less than three months after that, he was back in court for the deadly February shooting. His defense attorney calling the shooting a case of self-defense. The judge set a new bail at $50,000.

Tyler Olivier now has three criminal cases pending against him and his mother has a case of her own. Sylvestre is out on bail for conspiracy and witness intimidation.

The Middlesex County District Attorney’s office wouldn’t comment on the open cases against Tyler Olivier. They also wouldn’t comment on the case against his Marie Laine Slyvestre.

Both Olivier’s and Sylvestre’s witness intimidation cases are being handled out of Worcester County to avoid any conflict of interest.

Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early’s office had requested $10,000 bail for Olivier in October, according to spokesperson Scott Croteau.

“Our office also requested that if bail was posted, the defendant be placed on GPS with home confinement and a stay away order” and that he have no contact with the victim, said Croteau.

Croteau declined additional comment on an active case.

We checked: Sylvestre retired from the Massachusetts Trial Courts on June 24th, 2022, on the same day that she appeared in court for her criminal charges. According to the state retirement board, she retired collecting her state pension $3359.33 month or $40,311.96 a year.

“If any court worker is found to be guilty of tampering with a witness, as an attorney, does that open up a whole can of worms,” Kavanaugh asked Elikann.

“If any state employee does something unethical hypothetically or breaks the law in any way then you often look into the background and history were they involved in any other cases or not,” Elikann said. “And then you might want to look back and see if anything like that has gone on in the past.”

We reached out for Massachusetts Trial Courts for more information on the judge’s decision to grant Olivier bail on his two criminal cases. The agency is working on a response.

25 Investigates tried speaking with Sylvestre. We contacted her attorney and family. We were told no comment.

The attorney for Tyler Olivier did not respond to our phone calls and emails.

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