The career crook whom Mayor Adams, dubbed “Recidivist No. 1” as a symbol of the city’s revolving door of criminal justice, has been identified as Harold Gooding, a 53-year-old serial shoplifter — who has been arrested 101 times.
“How many crimes do you think he really committed? Two hundred? Three hundred? A thousand?” NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael LiPetri said at a news conference Wednesday.
“And guess what? He’s walking around the streets of New York City today, probably committing another crime as we speak.”
On Wednesday, sources identified Gooding as the unnamed person at the top of the NYPD’s list of the “Worst of the Worst” repeat offenders — let free again and again thanks to New York’s broken bail-reform law.
Gooding has served three prison terms, starting with a one- to three-year sentence for an attempted-burglary conviction in Brooklyn in 1994, according to state records.
Using the name Jamiel White, he was sent upstate again in 1996 for an attempted-robbery conviction in Brooklyn, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
Gooding’s most serious conviction, for first-degree robbery in Brooklyn, got him a 10-year sentence in 2001, and he was paroled in 2008, records show.
In February, he pleaded guilty to petit larceny in another Manhattan case and received a conditional discharge that required him to stay out of trouble and return to court periodically, records show.
After failing to show up, he was arrested on a bench warrant in July, and his conditional discharge was extended for a year, records show.
In an alleged string of robberies this year, Gooding shoplifted from a Target store in Tribeca multiple times — all while wearing the same distinctive white hat, the Manhattan DA’s Office charged.
Surveillance video showed Gooding wearing the bucket hat while stealing housewares from the store on five dates between May 12 and June 16, the DA’s Office alleged.
Gooding, whose Facebook page shows his penchant for headwear and sparkle filters, was busted about two blocks from the store while allegedly trying to make a getaway from the most recent heist.
In tote bags he was carrying, cops allegedly found $430 worth of towels, bedsheets and cookware swiped from the store.
The other capers, which involved a blender, a coffee maker, cookware and two air fryers, pushed the value of his alleged hauls over $2,000.
He also is being investigated in about 17 other thefts from the same Target, according to the DA.
Under the state’s bail-reform law, he was freed without bail on supervised release in the robberies, the DA’s Office said.
‘Wasn’t a good guy’
The landlord at Gooding’s last known address in The Bronx said he had lived there for about three years until moving out in June 2021 after the landlord called police to accuse him of stealing packages.
The landlord, who gave his name only as Henry, said cops had visited the building to look for Gooding at least four times, most recently about 10 days ago.
“We thought he was a good guy,” Henry said. “By the time he left, he wasn’t a good guy.”
Gooding’s mother, Delores Stroy, 72, appeared surprised to learn her son was at the top of the NYPD’s “Worst of the Worst” list.
“Not my Harold,” she told The Post. “I know nothing about that.”
The Legal Aid Society, which is representing Gooding in both of his pending cases, didn’t return a request for comment.
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