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Bail Reform Was Once This Bergen Serial Burglar's Friend — Not Anymore: Authorities

Charges continue to mount against a one-man crime wave – and onetime bail reform poster boy – whom judges have kept held in the Bergen County Jail since mid-October.

Police in Glen Rock and Wyckoff became the latest to charge Nicola Torres, 40, of Passaic, with commercial burglaries in their towns.

That makes more than a dozen municipal police departments in four New Jersey counties just this year alone.

Torres has a criminal record that stretches back more than 15 years, mostly for business break-ins.

More recently, the 6-foot-2-inch, 240-pound felon has been repeatedly arrested and then subsequently released under New Jersey’s 2017 bail reform law, mostly on commercial burglary charges, records show.

Nicolas Torres

MUGSHOT: Courtesy BERGEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR

Earlier this year, Torres was linked to break-ins at businesses in Fort Lee, Leonia, Englewood Cliffs, Little Falls, Montclair, Ridgewood, Rutherford, and Wyckoff.

SEE: Repeat Offender Burglarized Businesses In Bunch Of Bergen County Towns, Police Charge

A few years ago, Torres was charged with breaking into several real estate and doctors’ offices in Maywood, Fort Lee, Oradell, and Westwood, as well as in Middlesex County.

In just about every case, he was released and then skipped court, records show.

SEE: Judge Frees Ex-Con In Four-Town Bergen Burglary Spree

Subsequent incidents – many followed by outstanding warrants – were reported out of Bergenfield, Bloomfield, Boonton, Clifton, Denville, East Rutherford, Fort Lee, Lyndhurst, North Haledon, Nutley, and Westwood, according to jail records.

Nicolas Torres

ESSEX COUNTY JAIL

Torres has remained in the Bergen lockup since Maywood police captured him on Oct. 10 and charged him with burglarizing a West Pleasant Avenue dry cleaner three weeks earlier.

SEE: Bail Reform Poster Boy Wanted On Warrants Out Of Eight North Jersey Towns Nabbed By Maywood PD

Glen Rock detectives recently served him at the county jail with burglary and theft charges for a July 2 break-in at Fianna Nail and Spa in the Rock Road Central Business district.

Glen Rock Police Chief Dean Ackermann thanked Denville police for their assistance with the investigation.

Nicolas G. Torres

MAYWOOD PD

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