Back in 1991, Carolyn Carluccio was elbow-deep in cocaine and DEA agents. As one of the few female prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office, she was helping to unravel a drug ring operating in Las Vegas, Massachusetts and Delaware—by hitting them where it hurts. “It started as asset forfeiture, which was then a new tactic,” says Carluccio. “We seized their property,
including homes and cars—the very things they bought with that drug money.”
Carluccio relates all of this with a certain amount of glee—the same tone she uses to describe another of her criminal investigations: ambulance companies committing Medicare fraud. And when she became deputy solicitor for Montgomery County in 2005, Carluccio was assigned one of the highest-profile cases in Main Line history: Friends of the Barnes Foundation versus … well, everyone else. “I’m happy the Barnes has a great new home, however I still believe it should have stayed in Merion.”
That ability to see the merit in both sides of an issue now serves Carluccio well as a judge in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, a position to which she was elected in 2009. Since then, she’s served in family, civil and criminal courts.
Away from the bench, Carluccio founded Courting Art, an exhibit that’s resulted in the 100 paintings now hanging in the region’s courtrooms. She also spearheaded Liberty & Law, a program where attorneys teach civics classes to sixth graders.
In July of this year, the Blue Bell resident participated in one of the newest changes to Pennsylvania’s legal system, officiating a same-sex marriage. “It was the most emotional wedding I’ve done,” she says. “I was thrilled to be part of that.”
