Nicholas Critelli, 20, of Ronkonkoma, was arrested Thursday, Oct. 22, in connection with a February encounter in the AMC Stony Brook 17 parking lot, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney.
The woman was loading purchases into her car around 10:22 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, when Critelli approached in a dark gray Nissan Altima, made eye contact, and began masturbating, prosecutors said.
She recognized him from news coverage following his October arraignment in other public lewdness cases, investigators said.
The new charge brings the total to five cases involving encounters with women between February and October, according to the district attorney’s office.
Daily Voice reported on four of those cases Tuesday, Oct. 20 — four days before prosecutors announced the latest case.
In the first previously reported encounter, Critelli masturbated in front of a woman in a Target parking lot in Sayville on June 4, prosecutors said.
Two days later, he was parked on a residential street in Sayville when he called out to a woman walking nearby, asked for her Snapchat information, and masturbated, authorities said.
Critelli was arrested June 16 and arraigned July 6 on two counts of public lewdness before being released on his own recognizance, according to prosecutors.
Two more incidents followed that fall: one in a Walmart parking lot in Centereach on Thursday, Oct. 1, and another in a Target parking lot in Commack on Wednesday, Oct. 14, investigators said.
During the Commack encounter, Critelli called out to a woman, “Oh my god. You’re so pretty. Are you from around here?” according to authorities.
He was arrested Friday, Oct. 16, arraigned the following day on two more public lewdness misdemeanors, and placed on supervised release, prosecutors said.
The newly reported February encounter predates those four incidents.
Critelli was arraigned in the fifth case Friday, Oct. 23, before District Court Judge Steve Weissbard on one count of public lewdness, a class B misdemeanor.
All five offenses are non-bail eligible under New York law, meaning prosecutors cannot request bail and judges cannot set it on those charges, the district attorney’s office said.
“This is now the defendant’s fifth criminal case alleging deplorable behavior against women who are simply going about their day,” Tierney said.
Critelli is represented by the Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County and is due back in court Wednesday, Nov. 4.
Anyone who believes they may have been victimized is asked to contact the Suffolk County Police Department at 631-854-8452.
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