T o call David Bonaventura a repeat offender would be an understatement.

The 51-year-old Santa Fe man has been arrested at least 17 times in the past 10 years on charges ranging from driving without a license to drug trafficking to larceny.

His alleged crimes have been, for the most part, nonviolent — with the exception of a 2018 case in which he was accused of head-butting a woman who told police the attack was prompted by his unreciprocated romantic feelings for her.

Just this year, he has been arrested in January, February, April, May and June in connection with allegations he stole things out of vehicles, possessed drugs, stole vehicles themselves and used credit cards he’d stolen. Nearly half of his cases have been dismissed by prosecutors or judges, rankling residents who say he

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