WESTFIELD — On Friday night law enforcement officials tracked down and arrested the second suspect in Connecticut who allegedly started fires in two railcars at the CSX railyard on Aug. 15, according to the Westfield Police detective investigating the fire.
Brandon Jasorkowski, 25, was located at a relative’s home in Ansonia, Connecticut, and arrested by Connecticut State Police, Detective Rick Mazza said.
Jasorkowski and Johnny Hundley, 23, both of whom police said are homeless, were the two suspects identified by police who were allegedly responsible for setting a fire that destroyed a shipment of food-grade paper products, attempted to set a fire to the contents of an adjoining railcar filled with similar products, and damaging a caboose.
The combined value of the railcars’ contents was $180,000. One of the railcars was destroyed with an estimated replacement cost of $70,000, Mazza said. There was no estimate in court documents about the estimated cost to repair the damaged caboose.
The incident took place in the CSX railyard off North Elm Street that extends under Notre Dame Street.
Last Wednesday, Hundley was taken into custody and arraigned in district court on six felonies and one misdemeanor related to the fire, Mazza said last week.
Westfield Police got a tip that led them to Hundley and Jasorkowski less than two days after the public was asked for help in identifying the culprits on the department’s social media site.
Investigators didn’t initially know if there was one, or more than one, person responsible for the fire, Mazza said.
The tipster told police that a family member spoke to the two men only minutes after the incident, he said. He said investigators spoke with the witness, who lives less than 3,000 feet from the site of the fire, and told investigators that Hundley and Jasorkowski came to their residence and showed them a cellphone video recording of the railcar burning.
Mazza also said that when the witness was shown the video and told them what they had just done, the witness demanded both men leave their home.
The men also told the witness details of their actions that police had not released to the public, specifically that they had broken into a caboose at the railyard and broken all its windows, he said.
Once inside, the pair trashed the caboose’s interior, threw various items that were inside out into the railyard, and sprayed the interior with a fire extinguisher, Mazza said.
When they left the caboose, they took an emergency flare with them and turned their attention to two railcars, Mazza said.
Mazza said the suspects then cut a heavy-duty plastic zip-tie, which had secured the railcar door latch, to get inside. Using the flare, they allegedly ignited the paper products in the one railcar, and then allegedly broke into a second railcar carrying the same material, he said.
Only a small portion of the paper in the second railcar ignited, he said. But because the products were being transported in a sealed car to prevent contamination, all of the contents are considered ruined, a total loss, he said.
Both men were charged with two counts of burning a building, three counts of felony breaking and entering of a railroad car, one count of malicious destruction of property over $1,200 and one misdemeanor count of trespassing by walking on a railroad track, according to court documents.
Because Jasorkowski was arrested in Connecticut, the state must hold an extradition hearing there, unless he waives extradition.
Once he arrives in Westfield, he will be arraigned on those charges.
Hundley was arraigned last Thursday on the charges and ordered held in lieu of posting a $15,000 cash bond.
If Hundley makes bail, he will have to wear a GPS tracking device and stay away from the witnesses, according to court documents.
On Monday, Hundley remained in custody at the Hampden County House of Correction, according to a spokesperson with the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office.
If convicted of the burning building charges, both could be sentenced for up to 20 years in prison on each count.
If convicted on the felony breaking and entering of railcar and the malicious destruction of property over $1,200, both could be sentenced for up to 10 years on each count.
