Bail revoked for suspect on Bristol County Most Wanted list
By: Ellie Romano
Email: ERomano@ABC6.com
Twitter: @ERomanoABC6
FALL RIVER, Mass. (WLNE) – Brian Jagielski appeared before a judge again on Friday for his danger and flight risk hearing.
The 53-year-old Tiverton man was listed as one of Bristol County’s Most Wanted Fugitives after skipping his July 16 Superior Court arraignment date. He then fled to Mexico. He was captured and returned to Massachusetts at the beginning of October.
He’s facing serious domestic violence charges in connection to altercations that allegedly took place in January. According to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, Jagielski strangled his girlfriend on multiple occasions in New Bedford and also took her to the Freetown State Forest against her will and threatened 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.
At Friday’s hearing, a judge ruled Jagielski is both a flight risk and a danger to society. He will now be held without bail until his trial in February.
Several of his former victims were in the courtroom for the hearing. Earlier this month, ABC6 News sat down with former victims Jen Blum and Nicole Gomes. Jagielski was convicted in 2014 for brutally attacking them on separate occasions.
“Now we can go through the holidays and wait until the trial and actually feel safe,” said Blum following the judge’s ruling.
“It hasn’t actually set in yet that we have the next four months to relax and not worry,” said Gomes.
In the past, Blum and Gomes thought the judicial system had failed, because after Jagielski was released from prison in 2018 he allegedly re-offended in the January incidents listed above.
After he was arrested in February, a judge ruled he was a danger and he was held without bail for 120 days, which is the statute of limitations.
But after the 120 days, bail was set and he posted it. He later fled to Mexico.
Because Jagielski was ruled a flight risk at Friday’s hearing, his bail can be revoked completely.
“Today I felt like the system was behind us,” said Gomes.
“I feel like we’re winning. He’s not going to intimidate us or hurt us or do anything to us anymore,” said Jagielski’s ex-wife Heather Bulcao.
Jagielski’s trial is set for February 10. If he’s convicted of all of the charges he’s facing, the maximum sentence he would serve would be 22.5 years.
© WLNE-TV 2019/ ABC6
