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Notorious husband and wife ‘professional tenants' strike again

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Notorious husband and wife ‘professional tenants' strike again


It appears Russell and Linda Callahan are at it again.

The couple’s 20-year pattern of behavior was the focus of an NBC10 investigation last year. We documented how the “professional tenants” scammed small property owners in Worcester County and lived in homes without paying rent.

In the wake of our reporting, authorities charged the Callahans with several felonies, which are pending in Westborough District Court.

When we last caught up to the couple in February, they were being evicted from a large complex after racking up more than $12,000 in unpaid rent, according to housing court records.

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The question was: Where would the Callahans land next?

We now have that answer.

Earlier this month, a property owner in Worcester, Jimmy, rented his newly constructed duplex to the couple. Jimmy did not want to use his full name because of his job and embarrassment about not doing more due diligence prior to signing the lease.

“I gave them the keys. I trusted them,” Jimmy said. “They looked professional.”

The Callahans are professionals, just not the type that Jimmy had hoped for as tenants.

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Our investigation found they have been evicted more than 20 times in Massachusetts and Florida, with unpaid rent judgments surpassing well over $100,000.

Russell and Linda Callahan have an extensive record of evictions.

Victims we spoke with include a single mom, a couple saving to have their first child, and a veteran who was overseas on his first deployment with the Navy.

Our investigation also found the legal system repeatedly brushed aside the alleged crimes as “housing court matters.”

Jimmy said the Callahans told him they were in the process of buying a new house. Instead of running a background check that could affect their credit score, they asked if their mortgage broker could send Jimmy their financial records.

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The documents arrived via secure message and Jimmy said they appeared to be legit.

“Everything looked really good,” Jimmy said. “Great background check. Great credit history. There was pretty substantial income between both of them.”

However, like other landlords we interviewed, Jimmy would later learn the documents were fake.
By the time the Callahans were already inside the Worcester property, nearly $10,000 in rental checks bounced.

After repeated excuses about why the funds weren’t available, Jimmy said he got suspicious and decided to Google the Callahans. He was horrified to see a slew of NBC10 headlines about the “professional tenants.”

“I could not believe what had happened,” Jimmy said.

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After speaking with Jimmy, the NBC10 Investigators checked out the property and saw Linda Callahan behind the wheel of a moving van.


NBC10 Boston

NBC10 Boston

Linda Callahan outside a moving van in Worcester, Massachusetts.

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Even though Jimmy said the couple had told him they would move out when he threatened to go to the police, we watched as Linda made herself at home, directing her adult son where to put the furniture.

Jimmy eventually went to the police to file a report. The case has been assigned to a detective who is investigating to see if criminal charges should be pursued, according to a Worcester police spokesperson.

New charges could have a potential impact on the Callahans’ pending case in Westborough District Court. Their next scheduled hearing is slated for June.

The Callahans did not respond to our questions about their new address when we approached them outside of court.

Russell and Linda Callahan outside of court.


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NBC10 Boston

NBC10 Boston

Russell and Linda Callahan outside of court.

For now, Jimmy knows he is at the mercy of the housing court system in Massachusetts. He is in the process of filing an eviction, but knows that process can drag out for months.

The landlord said he has offered to pay for their move and get them housing for a week, just to get them out of his property.

“They keep promising they will move out,” Jimmy said. “It doesn’t look like they are going anywhere.”

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Massachusetts

Obituary for Peter J. Grudzien at Daniel T. Morrill Funeral Home

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Obituary for Peter J. Grudzien at Daniel T. Morrill Funeral Home


North Brookfield / Sturbridge Peter J. Grudzien, 85, formerly a longtime resident of Sturbridge, passed away on Friday, Sept. 19th, in the UMass Memorial Health Harrington, Southbridge, after a long illness. He leaves his wife of 66 years, Willa A. Power Grudzien his son, Bill Grudzien and his wife Denise



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N.H. leads 25 states in seeking Supreme Court review of ‘unconstitutional’ Mass. gun law

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N.H. leads 25 states in seeking Supreme Court review of ‘unconstitutional’ Mass. gun law


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The effort calls into question whether or not Massachusetts’ firearm regulations for out-of-state visitors are unconstitutional.

The attorneys general of 25 Republican-led states say that Massachusetts’ gun regulations pose a constitutional problem. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

New Hampshire is leading an effort from 25 states to challenge a Massachusetts gun law, and this month, they’re taking it to the Supreme Court.

The centerpiece of the argument is the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, N.H., which reaches across state lines into Tyngsborough. If shoppers park on the south side of the mall’s parking lot, they might end up crossing state lines during a visit.

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The attorneys general of New Hampshire and 24 other Republican-led states say this poses a potential problem for firearm holders. A New Hampshire resident who is legally carrying a firearm on their home state’s side of the parking lot may inadvertently be breaking the law when they cross the lot into Massachusetts, where it is illegal to carry without a permit.

Joining New Hampshire are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming, who are calling the arrangement unconstitutional. The states have rallied behind Phillip Marquis of Rochester, N.H., to ask the Supreme Court to protect out-of-state residents from Massachusetts’ firearms regulations.

“The geography of the mall is such that a New Hampshire resident might find themselves in Massachusetts if she parks on the south side of the parking lot or visits Buffalo Wild Wings,” reads a brief from the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office to the Supreme Court. “If that person is carrying a firearm without a Massachusetts license — which would be constitutionally protected activity in most of the mall—that person risks being charged as a felon and facing mandatory incarceration in Massachusetts.”

The trouble began for Marquis in 2022 when he was in a car accident in Massachusetts, according to the brief. When police arrived, he informed them that he had a pistol on him and was subsequently charged with carrying a firearm without a license.

Marquis previously sued the Commonwealth for the burdens that Massachusetts’ firearms permit law creates on out-of-state visitors, but the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court denied his claims. They ruled in March that the state’s nonresident firearms licensing laws were constitutional, according to court documents.

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Claiming that the Massachusetts court denied him his Second and Fourteenth Amendment rights, Marquis has petitioned the Supreme Court to federally overrule that court’s decision. In his petition, Marquis invoked New York State Rifle & Police Association, Inc. v. Bruen, where the court established that state firearms restrictions must be covered by the Second Amendment or adhere to historical firearms regulations.

Using Bruen, Marquis and the Republican attorneys general supporting him are aiming to prove that there is no justification for applying Massachusetts’ firearms restrictions to out-of-state residents and that to do so would be unconstitutional. However, the state’s Supreme Judicial Court found the law constitutional even under Bruen because it intends to prevent dangerous people from obtaining firearms, just as historical regulations have done.

“To the extent that the Commonwealth restricts the ability of law-abiding citizens to carry firearms within its borders, the justification for so doing is credible, individualized evidence that the person in question would pose a danger if armed,” the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision read. “Both case law and the historical record unequivocally indicate that this justification is consistent with ‘the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.’”

It’s not immediately clear if the Supreme Court will respond to Marquis’ appeal or when it will make any kind of decision, but lower courts are at something of a crossroads with how and when to apply Bruen to gun possession cases. As such, they are looking to the Supreme Court for a more definitive answer.

Since the proof of historical context that Bruen requires has led to some uncertainty, any ruling that these lower courts make is likely to amount to a partisan decision. However, if the Supreme Court provides more substantive clarity in a response to Marquis, these lower courts just might find the answer they are seeking.

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Mass. State Lottery winner: 2 $100,000 Mass Cash prizes won Friday

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Mass. State Lottery winner: 2 0,000 Mass Cash prizes won Friday


Massachusetts State Lottery players won two $100,000 prizes Friday from the day’s “Mass Cash” drawings.

The winning tickets were sold at the Roslindale Food Mart on Washington Street and McSheffrey’s of the South End convenience store (with Mobil gas) on Main Street in Woburn.

Mass Cash drawings happen twice daily, at 2 p.m. and at 9 p.m. It costs just $1 to play.

Overall, at least 625 prizes worth $600 or more were won or claimed in Massachusetts on Monday, including 6 in Springfield, 22 in Worcester and 14 in Boston.

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The Massachusetts State Lottery releases a full list of winning tickets every day. The list only includes winning tickets worth more than $600.

The two largest lottery prizes won so far in 2025 were each worth $15 million. One of the prizes was from a winning “Diamond Deluxe” scratch ticket sold in Holyoke, and the other was from a “300X” scratch ticket sold on Cape Cod.

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