Rogues’ gallery: The Post recaps some of NYC’s worst repeat offenders
New York’s controversial bail reform law gave rise to a new breed of defendants amid what Mayor Eric Adams calls the “catch, release, repeat” practice of the criminal justice system.
As Adams presses for a rollback of the 2019 legislation to crack down on repeat offenders, he unveiled a “worst of the worst” list during a Wednesday news conference at One Police Plaza.
Here’s a look at some alleged recidivists who aren’t on the list but were revealed exclusively by The Post in recent months:
Michelle McKelley
McKelley, 41, allegedly told cops she was a “professional booster” and complained, “Y’all are stopping my hustle” following her 97th arrest in Feburary, when she was accused of repeatedly stealing items from a Target store on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
At the time, sources said McKelley’s rap sheet was littered with busts for petit larceny, a misdemeanor that isn’t eligible for bail under the law that went into effect in 2020.
After being freed, the alleged serial shoplifter brazenly told The Post she was actually wearing a stolen shirt, saying, “I have to get a new outfit … so I have to go to work.”
McKelley finally got locked up on $5,000 bail following her 101st arrest, in which she was charged with second-degree assault, a felony, for allegedly “kicking, biting, scratching and spitting” at two cops Friday night when they busted her in the theft of paper towels from a Duane Reade store in Harlem.
Charles Wold
Career burglar Wold, 59, said he was “grateful” for bail reform in January, after he was accused of committing a three-month spree of break-ins at 10 businesses in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
“I’m too old to go to jail. I’m way too old. I can’t do it,” Wold told The Post in an exclusive interview.
Days later, the “Teflon con” was busted again while wearing slippers and smoking a cigarette outside his home in Park Slope, accused of three more burglaries in the neighborhood.
Following his release, Wold was arrested and freed again in April in the theft of a cash register from a Manhattan eatery.
Wold finally got locked up on $10,000 bail last month, after he was arrested in additional Manhattan burglaries and prosecutors convinced a judge it was the “least restrictive means” to ensure he’d returned to court after twice failing to appear and having repeatedly violated probation and parole.
Isaac Rodriguez
Rodriguez was dubbed the “Man of Steal” for an epic spree of 47 alleged retail thefts last year.
Rodriguez was allegedly partial to targeting Walgreens stores, including one in Jackson Heights, Queens, that he was accused of ripping off 23 times.
In one alleged caper, Rodriguez was accused of pilfering “10 units of Ensure, 12 Walgreens wipes, 15 units of Sensodyne toothpaste and 8 units of Cetaphil lotion.
“This guy comes here every day stealing, every single day,” the store manager told The Post at the time.
“He comes and he steals.”
Rodriguez finally landed in jail after being slapped with $15,000 bail for allegedly violating an order of protection issued on behalf of a Walgreens in Corona where he was accused of committing 13 heists.
The Post’s reporting on Rodriguez’s seemingly superhuman ability to get arrested and released led then-NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea to blast bail reform.
“Insanity,” Shea tweeted at the time.
“No other way to describe the resulting crime that has flowed from disastrous bail-reform law.”
Nolan Gonzalez
Gonzalez, known as “GoGo,” has been busted at various Macy’s outlets so many times that the department store chain issued a “trespass notice” to bar him from entering any of its locations last year.
But the move — which allows cops to automatically upgrade a shoplifting charge to burglary — wasn’t enough to keep Gonzalez from allegedly trying to swipe $350 worth of Tommy Hilfiger clothing from Macy’s flagship store in Manhattan’s Herald Square in May.
The arrest added to at least five Gonzalez racked up earlier in the year, including at the Macy’s store in Flushing, Queens.
Although cops charged him with grand larceny, burglary and possession of stolen property, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office reduced the charges to possession of stolen property and petit larceny under DA Alvin Bragg’s controversial, soft-on-crime policies and Gonzalez was released without bail at his arraignment.
