Berkley Crime Report

Editor’s note: This is the first of an occasional series to explain the origins of the ongoing harassment against the Berkley Board of Selectmen by former Berkley town official Wendy Cochrane.

Wendy Cochrane lost an election for Treasurer in 2024 and was asked to return her master key, which is policy. As we can see, Town Administrator Matthew Chabot made a very simple and polite request.

In response, Ms. Cochrane tells what we will later learn is an outright lie. “I lost it”

And then an escalation ensues. As we’ll learn in future editions this was just one of the last of Ms. Cochrane’s many, many meltdowns and instances of violations of the workplace violence policy from within the confines of Berkley Town Hall. And because of that ongoing harassment, Selectwoman Vincent immediately moves to secure the building to protect the employees and Town from Cochrane.

It’s at this point that Ms. Cochrane returns to two of her tried and true executive management techniques: intimidation and threats of violence. She miraculously did not lose the key but was instead seeking to harass town employees. As we can see from the assistant Town Administrator’s account when the key was eventually returned, Cochrane was, ” Loud, in my face, and yelling…” In addition she threatened Selectwoman Jennifer Vincent directly. Again according to the Assistant Town Administrator, Cochrane said, “You can tell that bitch(referring to Vincent) that I returned my key.” and then proceeded to vaguely threaten to “take her down”. That’s menacing behavior with a side of stalking thrown in for good measure.

And that, folks, was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Selectwoman Vincent then called for a harassment investigation of Cochrane that predictably led to a finding of multiple violations of the Town of Berkley’s Workplace Violence Policy which is linked here:

Is Wendy Cochrane a Town Hall Lunatic?- An Investigation

This is a public record which includes the handwritten note, “She’s not well.” in the margins. That seems to be an understatement if there ever was one.

The results of the investigation were predictable. In the end, the taxpayers were left with a bill for $8,460 on top of years of malfeasance, abuse of office, and possible felonies and misdemeanors which are still being investigated today.