An 18-year-old from Ansonia was arrested by Connecticut State Police last week and charged with ten crimes including six felonies. Jacek Gwiazda was arrested by troopers and processed on May 6 at Troop L for one count of larceny-second degree, a class C felony; four counts of theft of a credit card, a class D felony; four counts of illegal use of a credit card, a class A misdemeanor; and one count of identity theft-second degree, a class C felony.

Investigators believe the crime spree also included larcenies in neighboring municipalities including Newtown.

According to the arrest warrant, a Washington Police Department police officer working within Troop L’s jurisdiction responded on March 21, 2025, to a Washington home following a report of a vehicle break-in there. Washington PD Officer Richard Innaimo learned a purse had been stolen from an unlocked vehicle.

Among the items inside the purse were four debit or credit cards, $70 cash, and the operator’s license of the purse owner. The woman told Innaimo she found her purse and everything other than the aforementioned items along a nearby roadside when she went for a walk. She did not realize her purse had been stolen until then, she told Innaimo.

While Innaimo was interviewing the woman, she began receiving fraud alerts from the companies that had issued her debit and credit cards. The cards were already being used, according to the warrant, at locations throughout the Naugatuck Valley including Ansonia, Derby, Seymour and Shelton.

Through investigation, including footage from private residence Ring cameras, CSP was able to determine suspects who were attempting to make access into or steal vehicles from Washington and New Milford. CSP was then able to confirm, through footage from two stores in Shelton, one of those suspects was activating Visa gift cards with the stolen credit cards.

The suspect racked up nearly $3,100 in charges on the four cards, including $614.85 at Derby Dollar Tree.

A West Haven PD Sergeant later confirmed “without a doubt” that a man in surveillance photos from those locations was Gwiazda.

“Throughout the investigation, it was learned that these same suspects committed larcenies in Newtown, Wilton, Monroe, Seymour, New Milford and Washington … Information and suspect identification is being sought through the said departments through parallel investigations,” the arrest warrant noted.

Earlier Arrest

On March 31, Innaimo and two Troop L troopers responded to a report of a stolen Mazda in Washington. License plate readers had picked up the stolen vehicle “in the Sandy Hook/I-84 area at approximately” 4:30 am March 31.

Gwiazda was later witnessed by law enforcement operating the stolen Mazda. He is, according to the arrest warrant, “a known auto thief.” Gwiazda “has a juvenile criminal history to include upwards of ten arrests for motor vehicle theft,” also according to the warrant.

The vehicle was recovered in Ansonia, and towed to an auto body shop in that city.

Gwiazda was arrested on April 2 in Ansonia, after multiple law enforcement agencies converged there to execute a search and seizure warrant for keys or key fobs connected to the Mazda stolen from New Milford, an Alfa Romeo stolen from a driveway in Southbury, and a Volkswagen Atlas stolen from New MiIford. An arrest warrant for Gwiazda had already been issued in connection to the stolen Alfa Romeo.

The Ansonia search also uncovered additional key fobs, 14 rounds of .45 caliber ammunition on a bed, one 9 mm Glock semi-automatic handgun loaded with 14 rounds of 9 mm ammunition, and one .45 caliber Glock semi-automatic handgun with an empty 31 round magazine.

Gwiazda was processed and charged with two counts of illegal sale or purchase of large capacity magazines; two counts of altered/obliterated serial number; two counts of carrying a pistol without a permit; and one count risk of injury of a minor.

He was incarcerated in the Connecticut Department of Corrections. It was during the April 2 search and seizure that investigators felt probable cause existed and requested an arrest warrant for the ten charges Gwiazda faced on May 6.

He remains in custody. His next court appearance for the May 6 arrest is a remote hearing on June 26. He is also in custody for four additional cases. Gwiazda faces 18 additional charges, including 10 felonies.