Boston man charged as common and notorious thief in string of high-end Back Bay store robberies
BOSTON, February 18, 2026, – A Boston man with a history of theft and trespassing offenses dating to 2001 was arraigned Friday in BMC Central for a series of robberies from various Back Bay clothing stores in November, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced.
PETER CUTELIS, 40, of Boston, is charged with four counts of larceny over $1,200, possession of class A, B, and C drugs, and one count of being a common and notorious thief.
Judge Joseph Griffin set $2,500 bail for each docket and ordered Cutelis to stay away from the locations of each offense. Griffin also ordered Cutelis held without bail on a fugitive from justice charge out of Brentwood, NH for failure to appear. He will return to court on March 6 for a probable cause hearing.
On November 12, Boston police observed a man, later identified as Cutelis, enter the Lululemon store at 208 Newbury Street, grab various clothing items valued at $1,556.59 and exit without paying. Officers stopped Cutelis outside, identified and arrested him, and returned the items. During the arrest Cutelis became limp and fell to the ground. Cutelis told officers he had ingested illicit drugs. Officers recovered fentanyl, crack cocaine, and Clonazepam from a glove in Cutelis’s pocket.
On November 16, officers responded to the Ralph Lauren store at 93 Newbury Street for a reported larceny. Store employees showed officers surveillance footage of a man, later identified as Cutelis, taking two leather jackets, a cashmere sweater, and a leather bag totaling $4,398 in value and exiting the store. Two days later, officers responded to the same location for a report that a man had stolen three jackets valued at $1,464 and then fled on a bicycle. Surveillance footage was disseminated to police stations in the surrounding area and several officers identified Cutelis as the suspect.
On November 21, officers responded to a larceny at the Lululemon store inside the Prudential Center Mall. Loss prevention representatives showed officers a photo of a man who stole $2,157 in various clothing items. One of the items contained a GPS tracking device, which officers used to locate Cutelis at the Copley MBTA station. Officers found Cutelis in possession of multiple Lululemon items with tags still attached. The items were returned to the store.
“The current retail environment is difficult already and the last thing our merchants need is someone making a habit of coming into their stores and leaving with a lot of high-value, unpaid-for merchandise. We know the outsized impact repeat offenders can have on retail theft and we’re committed to reducing it,” Hayden said.
Hayden’s office, the Boston Police department, regional retailer groups and small business owners in 2024 launched the Safe Shopping Initiative, an effort to increase consumer safety and help store managers strategize responses to shoplifting and retail larcenies. The initiative formed amid increasing national and local frustrations around retail crime, along with concerns over the closure of several pharmacies serving minority communities in Boston.
All charged individuals are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office serves the communities of Boston, Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop. Our office handles more than 20,000 cases a year. Nearly 160 assistant district attorneys practice in nine district and municipal courts, Suffolk Superior Court, the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the Boston and Chelsea Juvenile Courts and the Supreme Judicial Court. Our office employs some 300 people and offers a wide range of services and programs for anyone encountering the criminal justice system. We are committed to educating the public about our mission and services while focusing on crime prevention to keep the residents, workers and visitors of Suffolk County safe.
James Borghesani, Chief of Communications