Man charged with theft of guns

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Derec Ramdin
Derec Ramdin

NAUGATUCK — Police arrested a felon with a lengthy criminal history after they tied him to the theft of a trove of firearms, including two high-powered revolvers.  

Derec Ramdin, 32, was charged Thursday with a list of firearm-related crimes after police say he broke into a home on Clark Road in February. The homeowner found that seven pistols, including a .44-caliber revolver, had been stolen from a dresser drawer where they had been stored.

Police also learned that a second home on Clark Road was burglarized at about the same time; only tools were taken during that theft. A short time after that Feb. 20 break-in, police stopped an SUV that matched the description of a vehicle that was witnessed leaving the scene.

Ramdin, of 21 Rosette St., was a passenger in the SUV and was charged in the theft of the tools. He told police he had information about the missing guns. Ramdin, who has a criminal record that includes burglary and theft, said another man had broken into the Clark Road home through a side door.

The man showed Ramdin the firearms while the two were hanging out at a gas station in Waterbury, according to Ramdin’s statement to police. Ramdin then pointed police to a Waterbury apartment on Bliss Street where the weapons were being stored.

Police learned the apartment was home to 32-year-old Angel Dominguez, a felon who Waterbury police charged with selling heroin and crack cocaine earlier this year. Police found the firearms in a plastic container in the closet of Dominguez’s apartment.

But police believe the rest of Ramdin’s story was bogus. The man he fingered as the gun thief was fishing with friends in New York on the day of the break-in and hadn’t seen Ramdin in more than a decade. According to police, Ramdin had specific details of the gun theft that could only have been known by the burglar.

In addition to seven counts of stealing a firearm, Ramdin was charged with burglary and making a false statement.

He is being held on bonds totaling more than $250,000.