DNA from a cigarette allegedly tossed by a Waterbury man helped Ansonia police charge him in connection to a five-year-old bank robbery.
Dennis Wilson, 42, of Waterbury, was charged Oct. 29 with first-degree robbery and second degree larceny.
The charges stem from the armed robbery March 4, 2009 at Naugatuck Valley Savings Bank at 75 Tremont St., next to the Big Y in Ansonia.
The bank (now an ION branch) was robbed about 9 a.m. that day. The suspect made off with about $8,000.
Police determined that after robbing the bank, the suspect made his way to a parked vehicle behind the Big Y and Bob’s Store building.
“Officers checked the area and were able to find indications that a vehicle was parked there a short time ago, as it had been snowing and there were dry spots where the vehicle was parked,” according to a written statement Nov. 18 by Ansonia Police Lt. Andrew Cota.
Cops also found a cigarette butt on the ground near the spot where the car was parked.
A weapon was not recovered, but items taken from the scene were sent to the state forensic lab to be tested.
In July 2013, the state lab sent word that a DNA match had been found, identifying Wilson as a suspect.
Wilson was being held at the time in jail in New York on an unrelated robbery charge.
“A confirmatory DNA sample was obtained from the suspect and the results were the same,” Cota said.
Ansonia police secured an arrest warrant and picked up Wilson at the Otisville Federal Correctional Facility last month.
He was scheduled to appear at Superior Court in Derby Nov. 18.
