Claremont
Debra Pitts, 31, of Trinity Street, and Jennifer Tozzi, 34, of Puckershire Avenue, were both arraigned on Monday afternoon in Claremont District Court via video from the Sullivan County House of Corrections. Pitts faces an armed robbery charge, while Tozzi faces a count of conspiracy. Neither entered pleas.
Judge John Yazinski called Sullivan County Attorney Marc Hathaway’s high bail request “appropriate,” but said little else on the topic.
Meanwhile, two Claremont police officers filed affidavits in court that detailed the early Saturday morning incident inside Pitts’ apartment.
The Dominos delivery driver, Daniel Tarajkowski, told police he went to Trinity Street to deliver an order around 12:45 a.m. and was invited inside by a woman he didn’t know. When he entered, two women brandished knives and demanded Tarajkowski hand them money, according to an affidavit written by Capt. Brent Wilmot.
When Tarajkowski refused, one of the women started stabbing Tarajkowski while the other removed his wallet and spilled its contents on the floor, according to police. The women picked up about $300 and left, the affidavit said.
Wilmot’s affidavit doesn’t make clear which of the women allegedly stabbed Tarajkowski, but a second affidavit filed by Sgt. Justin Laffin says Pitts was responsible.
A bystander alerted police to the robbery and identified the suspect as Pitts.
Police traced the Dominos delivery call during the course of their investigation. The telephone number left with the order was one police previously have used to reach Pitts, Wilmot’s affidavit said.
Police filed an arrest warrant for Pitts on Saturday and began searching for her. One place they searched was a residence on Meadow Street where police located Pitts and Tozzi.
Both women were arrested, Pitts in connection with the armed robbery and Tozzi on an old warrant out of Grafton County.
In an interview with police, Tozzi disclosed details of the armed robbery, saying she grabbed the money while Pitts fought with Tarajkowski, according to Laffin’s affidavit. Tozzi told police “she thinks” the motive for the robbery was to procure money for drugs, according to the affidavit.
Tarajkowski suffered stab wounds to his right hand and left arm during the attack and received seven stitches.
Also in Claremont District Court on Monday, Pitts answered to three misdemeanor charges in connection with a separate incident on April 2 at McNamara Dairy in Plainfield.
Yazinski entered not guilty pleas on her behalf to two chargs of theft by unauthorized taking and one count of willful concealment.
An affidavit filed in that case said alleges Pitts stole milk and $150 from the farm stand’s register, which operates on the honor system.
Pitts and Tozzi both have criminal records, but Hathaway declined to go into specifics after their arraignments on Monday.
However, in October 2013, Pitts pleaded guilty in Grafton Superior Court to a felony count of being an accomplice to an armed robbery involving a fake bomb at Walgreens Pharmacy in West Lebanon.
That conviction triggered an underlying but deferred six-month sentence for a 2012 conviction for giving Suboxone, a controlled drug, to a weekend inmate at the Grafton County House of Corrections.
In 2010, Pitts falsely accused her father, Ernie Simuro, of Windsor, of sexually abusing her and her son years earlier. Windsor police arrested Simuro, but the charges were later dismissed.
Simuro then sued Windsor police and the Vermont Department for Children and Families for false arrest and malicious prosecution. Two years ago, the state reached a $400,000 out-of-court settlement in the case.
Last month, Simuro was awarded an additional $300,000 in damages as the result of a jury’s verdict in his federal lawsuit against the former Windsor police officer who handled the investigation that led to his arrest.
Federal court records indicate that Pitts was a longtime heroin addict who had been convicted in 2009 in an unrelated case of providing false information to law enforcement for the purpose of implicating another person.
Pitts and Tozzi have probable cause hearings scheduled for April 27 in Claremont District Court.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.