Manuel Cravero, 34, of Prospect Park was seen on surveillance cameras inside the Crafstman, a gastropub on Maple Avenue, after hours, Sgt. Brian Metzler said.
He fled out a side door of the closed business but was nabbed by borough police a short distance away, the sergeant said.
Cravero is someone who’s commonly referred to as “known to police.” He has a criminal record stretching back more than a decade, with arrests in several towns in both Bergen and Passaic counties.
Offenses have included burglary, assault, theft, drug possession, disorderly conduct, contempt, probation violations, and, more recently, lewdness in front of a child, records show.
Cravero spent 10 months in the Bergen County Jail on the lewdness wrap before being released this past September.
He was arrested by Ridgefield police in November on burglary charges and released by a judge barely 24 hours later, records show.
Two weeks after that, on Nov. 28, came the Craftsman break-in.
Fair Lawn police charged Cravero with burglary. They released him pending a first appearance in Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack, however, under the requirements of New Jersey’s 2017 bail reform law.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Bergenfield and receive free news updates.