In New York City, multiple sex offenders, including one who raped a 7-year-old girl, are being housed next to a playground for children, according to a new report from the New York Post.
The shelter housing the convicted sex offenders was once a boutique called the Hotel MB, and was a Comfort Inn before that, the outlet reported. New York resident Brian Chin, a father who no longer allows his children to go on the playground near the hotel-turned-shelter, “There’s so much wrong with this, I don’t even know where to begin."
At least five of the sex offenders living in the shelter are level 2 or 3, who are legally not allowed to be "living or passing within a quarter mile of a public or private school, park, playground, or day care center," per NYC code.
“Finding out that the city has secretly been putting child predators into an all-expenses paid hotel overlooking the children’s park, on the taxpayer’s dime, it verges on being almost unbelievable,” the father added. “The sheer amount of sex offenders concentrated in that one hotel, the fact that they’re free to roam around, and that it’s literally situated directly across from the kids park and the local high school, it’s appalling.”
The hotel, now turned homeless shelter and being operated by the non-profit Neighborhood Association for Inter-Cultural Affairs Inc, is being run by taxpayer dollars. The non-profit has also been able to rake in $1.3 billion in city contracts over the last decade, according to the Post.
Those sex offenders living in the facility just 250 feet from the playground include Darren Jackson, 63, who was convicted in 2010 of raping 7-year-old girl multiple times. He was only sentenced to three years in prison.
Another convict living in the shelter is Lemar Jackson 57, who is a level-3 sex offender for deviate sexual intercourse with 12- and 9-year-old girls after threatening them. Sex offenders Elvin Vega, Legrand Jones, and Terrence Brown are all convicted of similar sex crimes and have also been living in the facility.
Some activists made the discovery about the shelter holding the sex offenders in 2021, but things have not changed, Jacky Wong, the managing director of the greater Chinatown Civic Coalition has said.
“Both DHS [Department of Homeless Services] and the hotel owner had previously assured us that this parolee shelter would close in June 2022,” Wong commented. “But they lied. It’s 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.”
The New York City Department of Social Services (DSS) said in a statement that not everyone who has registered as a sex offender is restricted from the shelter.
“DSS provides shelter to anyone in need in accordance with New York City’s 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,” DDS added, but did not answer the outlet’s questions regarding the allowance of level 2 and 3 sex offenders into the facility.
