FBI: Man suspected in string of bank robberies, including in Keene, arrested
Dec. 2—A Massachusetts man suspected of robbing more than a dozen banks in various towns and cities off Interstate 91, including two in this area, has been arrested, according to an FBI spokeswoman.
Law-enforcement officers arrested Taylor Dziczek, 30, of Chicopee, Mass., at his home Thursday on a federal criminal complaint charging him with robbing a Connecticut bank earlier this year, a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office District of Connecticut states.
DNA the FBI collected from Dziczek while surveilling him matches that found on discarded money wrappers collected as evidence at the scene of the May 26 robbery in Plainville, Conn., according to the news release.
Dziczek is also a suspect in 13 additional bank robberies and one attempted robbery since September 2021, the release states. The FBI has previously said those banks include the Savings Bank of Walpole in Keene and People's United Bank in Brattleboro as well as others in New Hampshire, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
The FBI in February had offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the man they had dubbed the I-91 bandit. Despite dozens of tips, it was investigators who ultimately identified Dziczek as the suspect, according to the FBI spokeswoman.
Dziczek appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert A. Richardson in Hartford, Conn., Thursday and was ordered detained, the release states. The single count of bank robbery he is charged with carries a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment.
Law-enforcement authorities have previously said the People's United Bank in Brattleboro was robbed on Oct. 4, 2021, and the Savings Bank of Walpole on West Street in Keene on Nov. 20, 2021.
An affidavit filed in the Connecticut case that Dziczek was charged with states about $11,000 was stolen from the Brattleboro bank and $7,000 from the Keene bank. Another attempted robbery occurred at People's United Bank in Brattleboro on Oct. 21, 2021, according to the affidavit.
Brattleboro police said at the time of the Oct. 4, 2021, robbery that an unknown man in a black hoodie fled the scene with an undisclosed amount of cash. And, Keene police said in a news release the day of the robbery at the Savings Bank of Walpole that the robber gave a bank teller a note stating that he had a gun and demanding money.
The FBI spokeswoman on Thursday evening forwarded an emailed request for more information to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Connecticut. In a reply, that office sent the affidavit but did not respond to a question in the email about whether additional charges could be brought.
Charles F. Willson, Dziczek's public defender, declined to comment Friday morning.
Ryan Spencer can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1412, or rspencer@keenesentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter
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