Warrants: Bridgeport man arrested in nighttime Norwalk home burglaries

STAMFORD — A Bridgeport man convicted of nighttime home burglaries was arrested Wednesday on allegations he broke into multiple Norwalk homes, some of which had families sleeping inside, according to arrest warrants.

Dereck Ramirez, 21, was charged with first-degree burglary, conspiracy to commit first-degree burglary and two counts each of third-degree burglary, conspiracy to commit third-degree burglary and sixth-degree larceny in connection to several home break-ins reported in Norwalk.

The first two attempted home burglaries occurred at two separate Delaware Avenue homes overnight on Oct. 21, according to police. Police said in the warrants that two people were seen entering one home via a window and attempting to get into another.

One of the suspects was seen with a gun, police said in the warrant.

On Nov. 3, police responded to a similar home burglary reported at a Kermit Street home, which is near Westport Avenue in Norwalk.

Police wrote in the warrant that a woman at the home went to the bathroom at 3 a.m. to find its window wide open. The homeowners reported that a wallet with several credit cards inside the home was taken, the warrant said.

The residents also reported someone entered a car at the address and another credit card, along with Apple AirPod headphones, were stolen, the warrant said.

While police were investigating the Kermit Street burglary, they received a call from a Rome Street resident who reported someone had broken into their vehicle overnight and stole credit cards. Those cards were later used for purchases in Bridgeport, the warrant said.

Both burglaries involved two suspects, one of whom was seen on surveillance footage in possession of a gun, Norwalk police wrote in the warrant.

Norwalk police learned that the stolen credit cards were being used at the Trumbull Mall, the warrant said. Ramirez and Gabrielle Collazo, 23, of Greenwich, were detained on the scene by local police.

Collazo turned over eight stolen credit cards to police, the warrant said. The two were also found in possession of a car reported stolen out of Stamford. Inside the car, police recovered a semiautomatic handgun reported stolen out of Florida, along with an illegal extended magazine.

Ramirez was initially charged by Trumbull police with seconddegree larceny, fourth-degree larceny, seven counts of theft of a payment card, interfering with police, stealing a firearm, illegal weapon in a motor vehicle, criminal possession of a pistol and illegal possession of a large capacity magazine. Collazo was also charged with multiple larceny and credit card-related felonies.

On Wednesday, Norwalk police arrested Ramirez on the additional burglary counts. Ramirez, who was on probation for multiple burglary-related convictions, also faces three counts of violation of probation.

At his arraignment in Stamford Wednesday, Judge John Blawie set Ramirez’s bond at $250,000. Ramirez was already being held on $150,000 bond in connection to his violation of probation charges.

Ramirez’s cases were all transferred to the Part A docket, where the district’s most serious matters are heard.

He is next scheduled to appear at the state Superior Court in Stamford on April 11.