Terrence Brown, 59: Level 2 offender convicted of forcible touching another person\u2019s intimate parts in 2009 and sentenced to six months.\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nDarren Jackson is a level 3 sex offender and lives at the shelter, according to state records. NY Sex Offender Registry<\/p>\n
Lemar Jackson is a Level 3 sex offender, records show. NY Sex Offender Registry<\/p>\n
Elvin Vega is a level 3 sex offender who lives at the shelter, records show. NY Sex Offender Registry<\/p>\n
Some area activists became aware the hotel was being used as a shelter for parolees back in 2021 and raised their concerns \u2014 but nothing changed, according to Jacky Wong, managing director of the greater Chinatown Civic Coalition.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth DHS [Department of Homeless Services] and the hotel owner had previously assured us that this parolee shelter would close in June 2022,\u201d Wong said. \u201cBut they lied. It\u2019s still operating. This shelter, along with other nearby facilities for single men, has directly and indirectly contributed to increased crime and safety concerns in and around Sara D. Roosevelt Park.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daiya Williams, 22, of Brooklyn, said she wouldn\u2019t bring her kids to the park because of the sex offenders who live nearby. Stephen Yang<\/p>\n
Murder, rape, robbery and assault are all up so far this year over last in the 5th Precinct, which encapsulates most of Chinatown.<\/p>\n
There have been two murders in the precinct this year so far as compared to none in the same period last year, according to NYPD data. Robbery is up 29%, to 76 incidents so far this year from 59 last year. Felony assault has increased 3.9% to 106 so far this year, compared to 102 in the same span of last year. Rape is up 80% to nine so far this year compared to five in the same period of 2024, the data show.<\/p>\n
Wong pointed to the assault and attempted rape of an 80-year-old woman in November near the corner of Grand Street and Chrystie Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n
John Quinones, 42, was horrified to learn the sex offenders were being housed next to the city playground. Stephen Yang<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no accountability from these shelter operators, and DHS continues to target low-income communities of color like ours for these placements,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is discriminatory and unacceptable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sex offenders aren\u2019t supposed to be housed in shelters in residential neighborhoods, said Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is part of the shelter problem,\u201d Sliwa said. \u201cIt\u2019s become a cottage industry where there are contracts and then obviously, the people who get the contracts, subcontract out, all the ancillary services to friends and relatives and associates, but the one thing that they should be doing is vetting who it is that actually is in a shelter and they don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city Department of Social Services released a statement saying that not everyone required to register in the sex offender database has residency restrictions.<\/p>\n
\u201cDSS provides shelter to anyone in need in accordance with New York City\u2019s right to shelter law while also ensuring compliance with all necessary local laws and regulations which includes being mindful of any residency restrictions and specific criteria laid out in state law,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
The agency didn\u2019t respond to a follow up question about why level 2 and 3 offenders were permitted to live so close to a playground. <\/p>\n
Many people who were in the park with their children Wednesday were upset to learn of the shelter sickos.<\/p>\n
\u201c<\/strong>I\u2019m super pissed off, I\u2019m talking to my husband right now on the phone and he\u2019s extremely mad as well,\u201d said a 29-year-old mom who takes her two kids to the playground at least twice a week. \u201cThey shouldn\u2019t be anywhere near the park.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nBrooklyn choreographer John Quinones, a 42-year-old grandfather, was \u201chorrified.\u201d <\/p>\n
The playground is located 243 feet from the hotel that\u2019s been converted into a shelter. Stephen Yang<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the type of person that would want to take actions into my own hands and probably get in trouble,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Resident Daiya Williams was adamant that the city should have at least notified parents.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven it\u2019s New York City anything can happen, and I don\u2019t want to take the chance,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chin plans to keep calling attention to the problem.<\/p>\n
Brian Chin, a father-of-two, said someone should be \u201cheld accountable\u201d for placing the perverts next to the playground. Stephen Yang<\/p>\n
\u201cPlacing violent child sex predators across from our children\u2019s park, the city and the officials who approved this need to be held accountable,\u201d the dad said. \u201cI think I can confidently speak for all of us when I say that enough is enough.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
NAICA did not return requests for comment. <\/p>\n
Additional reporting by Samantha Olander<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city has quietly turned a former hotel into a taxpayer-funded den for child predators and other sex…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":40886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,32457,32458,32459,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,8190,32460,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-40885","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-chinatown","10":"tag-department-of-homeless-services","11":"tag-homeless-shelters","12":"tag-metro","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-city","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkcity","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-playgrounds","20":"tag-sex-offenders","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-us-news","27":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114800941170463662","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}