Bristol County Most Wanted Fugitive Apprehended in Chicago

NEW BEDFORD — One of Bristol County’s Most Wanted Fugitives has been apprehended in Chicago.

Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III says after skipping his July 16 Superior Court arraignment date, 53-year-old Brian Jagielski, of Tiverton, Rhode Island, is in custody in Chicago.

Jagielski is wanted in Massachusetts in connection to a serious domestic violence case. He’s under indictment in Bristol County for strangling his girlfriend on multiple occasions in New Bedford and for also taking her to the Freetown State Forest against her will and threatening to bury her there. He is also accused of slapping her, smashing a vase and holding a piece of its broken glass up to her throat while threatening to kill her. The incidents are all alleged to have occurred in January.

At the time of his arrest by New Bedford Police, he was on probation in Rhode Island for a previous domestic violence conviction where he spent four years in prison.

While the Bristol County case was still in District Court, Jagielski posted $27,500 cash bail and was then transported to Rhode Island for the alleged violation of his probation. After a hearing in Rhode Island in July, he posted an additional $10,000 cash bail and was ordered to return to Massachusetts for his Superior Court arraignment on the new indictment charging him with assault and battery on a family or household member, assault with a dangerous weapon, strangulation and witness intimidation.

He was scheduled to be arraigned on July 16 in Fall River Superior Court, but did not appear. An arrest warrant issued on that same day.

Jagielski was arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Friday night after arriving on a flight from Mexico.  He is currently being held in Illinois as a Fugitive from Justice and has waived rendition.

Massachusetts State Police Troopers assigned to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office are in the process of making arrangement to transport Jagielski back to Massachusetts for arraignment in Fall River Superior Court.

No date has been set as of this time.