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Taylor Dziczek, 30, of Chicopee, was arrested Thursday, Dec. 1, in connection with the more than year-long robbery spree that stretched across four states, the FBI said in a news release. A judge ordered him held without bail in Hartford, Conn.
The story of Dziczek's capture began in May.
Investigators allege Dziczek walked into the Peoples United Bank branch at 117 East St., in Plainville, Conn., and handed the teller a note that read, "I have a gun. Don‘t call 911. Don‘t set off any alarms.“ He stole the cash, but when the teller said he didn't have anything else, the robber didn't buy it. Investigators said he pulled out what appeared to be a handgun from the front pocket of his sweatshirt and doubled down.
"Give me all the money, " he said. "I have a gun. Don't be a hero."
It was all part of his pattern. The Route 91 Bandit had threatened half a dozen tellers before this and had even tried to get into the vault of several banks in previous robberies, but he made a mistake this time as he made his escape, the FBI said. The robber threw away some of the paper bands that held together the stacks of cash on his way out the front door, and officers collected them later as evidence.
That was the beginning of his downfall.
Investigators didn't say what led them to suspect Dziczek of the crime, but they began to surveil him and followed him to the MGM Casino in Springfield, Mass., earlier this year. Agents said they watched as he sipped a Red Bull through a black straw, and they retrieved it after he threw it away. DNA on the straw matched genetic material officers collected from those discarded bands, agents said.
Dziczek is believed to have robbed 14 banks and credit unions in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire from September 2021 until August 2022, the FBI said. The charge of bank robbery carries a potential 20-year prison sentence.
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