Former Bristol County Most Wanted Fugitive, captured, returned to MA, to appear in Fall River Tuesday

53-year-old Brian Jagielski, who was apprehended late last month in Chicago after being listed as one of Bristol County’s Most Wanted Fugitives, has been returned to Massachusetts and will be arraigned in Fall River Superior Court tomorrow, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

Jagielski, of Tiverton, RI, was wanted in Massachusetts in connection to a serious domestic violence case. The defendant is under indictment in Bristol County for allegedly 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 the District Court, the defendant 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 16th in Fall River Superior Court, but did not appear. An arrest warrant issued on that same day. He also has other pending charges out of Fall River District Court.​

The defendant was arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on September 27 after arriving there on a flight from Mexico. He was being held in Illinois as a Fugitive From Justice and waived rendition.