A serial shoplifter who’s been arrested nearly 100 times was busted in Times Square after resorting to his old ways — on the same day was released from jail, authorities and sources said.
Christopher Dornfeld, 33, was let loose after his most recent arrest and expected to report for residential treatment, but when he didn’t show up, police caught the shoplifting recidivist allegedly stealing $267 worth of merchandise from an H&M in Times Square Wednesday night, according to cops and prosecutors.
Dornfeld was most recently busted for burglary in 2022 — but his rap sheet also includes 90 arrests dating back to 2006, police sources said.
Thirty-five of those arrests have since been voided or sealed, the sources said.
Dornfeld’s latest arrest came days after Michael Lipetri, NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies, announced that shoplifting crimes are being committed at unprecedented rates, with police reporting 21,000 shoplifting-related arrests this year, an uptick of 2,000 over last year.
“And as we always say, shoplifting is a recidivist-driven crime,” he said.
“You have approximately 575 people this year [who] have been arrested for over 6,000 shoplifting arrests…That’s 30% of all [the shoplifting] arrests.”
Those same 575 people racked up a combined 16,000 shoplifting arrests during “their career criminal life,” Lipetri said.
“You look at their total arrests for their lifetime, 25,000 arrests.”
Dornfeld had pleaded guilty to the 2022 burglary charges and was sentenced to serve up to 15 months of residential treatment on Wednesday.
He was released from custody, and when he failed to report to the program, a bench warrant was quickly issued and he was re-arrested.
Prosecutors said his guilty plea would have been vacated if he successfully completed the program and avoided re-arrest – but now he faces up to 7 years in prison.
Dornfeld is currently in police custody. He was charged with petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property.
He has not yet been arraigned on the new charges.
