Nicholas Critelli
Introduction
Nicholas Critelli, a 20-year-old from Ronkonkoma, New York, has been arrested twice in 2026 and charged in four public-lewdness cases for allegedly exposing and touching himself in front of women in Long Island parking lots — and walked out of custody both times because the misdemeanor charges are not bail-eligible under New York law. The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office publicly blasted the state’s bail rules while announcing the latest charges, and detectives are asking any additional victims to come forward.
Background Information
Suffolk County police and prosecutors say the pattern began on June 4, 2026, when Critelli allegedly exposed himself to a woman while touching himself in a Target parking lot in Sayville. Two days later, authorities say, he catcalled a woman walking in a residential Sayville neighborhood while pleasuring himself in his car. He was arrested for those two June incidents and issued a desk appearance ticket on public-lewdness charges, then released — and, according to the district attorney, was at it again in October before he ever stood trial on the June cases.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Charged, not tried; freed twice under New York’s bail rules. Critelli faces four counts of public lewdness, class B misdemeanors, in two separate criminal cases. He has not been tried and no conviction has been entered; he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The descriptions of the incidents are drawn from police and prosecutor statements and coverage of them, and no attorney for Critelli is named in the cited coverage.
According to police, the October incidents began around 9:40 p.m. on October 1, when a 911 caller reported a man committing a lewd act in his car while calling over a woman in a parking lot in the Centereach mall area. Then, around 9:25 p.m. on October 14, officers responded to a similar report in the Target parking lot on Veterans Memorial Highway in Commack — where, per prosecutors, Critelli called out to a woman, “You’re so pretty. Are you from around here?” while touching himself. Both women reported the incidents to police.
Following an investigation by Fourth Squad detectives, Critelli was arrested at approximately 12:20 p.m. on October 16 in a parking lot on Deer Park Avenue in Deer Park, charged with two counts of second-degree public lewdness, and held overnight before arraignment in First District Court in Central Islip on October 17. Suffolk County DA Ray Tierney used the announcement to attack the state’s bail statute: “The defendant’s alleged behavior is abhorrent — and New York’s broken bail laws allow him to allegedly do this again and again and again,” Tierney said. “Case after case shows the same pattern: My office is not allowed to ask for bail despite the seriousness of the alleged crimes and the documented repeated behavior.” His office said it will “continue to prosecute the four cases against this defendant to secure justice.”
Because public lewdness is not a bail-eligible offense under current New York law, prosecutors cannot ask for bail and judges cannot set it, so Critelli was released again after his arraignment — his second release in four months on the same type of charge, according to the district attorney.
Public Reaction and Consequences
The case drew its audience through the district attorney’s unusual public framing: rather than a quiet arraignment, Tierney’s office put the releases themselves on trial, calling New York’s bail rules “broken” and saying they allow the alleged behavior to repeat. Suffolk County police publicly asked anyone who believes they may have been a victim of Critelli to contact the Fourth Squad, and the arrest was covered locally by News 12 and nationally by the New York Post. The Suffolk County Police Department’s release carries its own caution: “A criminal charge is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.”
Current Status
Critelli, 20, is out of custody awaiting prosecution on four counts of public lewdness across two criminal cases — the two June incidents and the two October incidents — with the district attorney’s office pledging to pursue all four. Because the class B misdemeanor charges are non-bail-eligible, his releases were mandatory under the statute rather than a judge’s discretionary call. Detectives are still asking possible additional victims to come forward, and the cases remain pending in Suffolk County District Court; no trial date appears in the cited coverage. The charges are accusations, and Critelli has not been convicted of anything.
Impact on Their Career/Life
At 20, Critelli faces four pending misdemeanor counts and a public record that now includes two arrests in four months, an agency booking photo, and a district attorney using his case as a statewide argument against bail reform. No school or employer connection appears in the cited coverage. His liberty between now and trial is unchanged — the statute that freed him the first time freed him the second — but the four open cases, and any additional victims who come forward, will determine what follows.