DNA from water bottle links man to Vernon jewelry heist
By Jason Rowe and Ethan Fry, Journal Inquirer
06/27/2006/Journal Inquirer, CT
VERNON – A discarded water bottle provided the key DNA link for police in connecting a federal convict to a five-year-old jewelry heist.
Fabian Roa, also known as Bayron Badillo, 28, an illegal immigrant, was arraigned on charges of first-degree robbery and first-degree larceny in connection with the holdup, which occurred in front of Charlie’s Restaurant in the Vernon Commons shopping plaza on Hartford Turnpike on March 22, 2001.
Judge Marcia Gleeson set bond for Roa at $250,000, an essentially academic figure since he is serving an eight-year federal prison sentence for several similar robberies in the Boston area.
Roa is accused of holding up two jewelry couriers from New York as they stopped for dinner in town.
The key to cracking the case came a day later when police found the men’s vehicle on Vernwood Drive.
As police processed the car, one of the officers, Detective Steven Sartor, discovered a discarded water bottle and “swabbed” the bottle’s top and cap, Collins said.
The swab was sent to the state’s forensic crime laboratory, which was successful in extracting DNA, Collins said.
About 30 months after the swabs were sent to the lab, the affidavit says, the sample was matched with Roa through a New York law enforcement DNA database.
At that point, Roa already had begun serving his federal prison sentence, so a federal search warrant was needed to obtain a sample of his DNA to confirm the match.
According to the affidavit, authorities obtained a warrant last December and were able to obtain the sample, which the state police lab confirmed in February matched the swab taken from the getaway car.
Police obtained a warrant for Roa’s arrest on March 13, nine days before the five-year statute of limitations was set to expire, Collins said.
Roa was extradited to Connecticut on June 24, Collins said.
Collins said Roa is known to use several identities, which can complicate an investigation of this nature.
“He uses different names, he uses different dates of birth,” Collins said. “We may not know the guy’s real name ever, but at least we know what his fingerprints and DNA are.”
Collins said one piece of the stolen jewelry was recovered.
“It would have been more satisfying had we recovered the jewels,” he said.
In December 2002, Roa and four other men were sentenced in federal court in Boston for attempting to rob an undercover FBI agent posing as a jewelry salesman in October 2001.
The five were netted after the FBI began an investigation into the robberies of several jewelry salesmen between 1999 and 2001, targeted while doing business in Boston’s jewelry district, according to the affidavit.
Roa is scheduled to return to court on July 14.
The March 2001 heist marked the second time in a roughly six-month period that Vernon saw a large-scale jewelry robbery.
In September 2000, a father and son were robbed of more than $2 million in germs as they were walking back to their car near Rein’s New York Style Deli Restaurant on Hartford Turnpike.
There were four men in that case, which remains unsolved.
Because the statute of limitations is expired, Collins said, the September 2000 case likely will remain unsolved unless some of the property stolen in the heist were to be found in someone’s possession.
