By Ayala Ben-Yehuda
The recent move of a registered sex offender into a Bay Terrace high-rise has angered dwellers in the co-op and elected officials because of the children who live in the building and attend a nearby elementary school.
The two groups say the community was not notified of the 20-year-old offender’s presence or what restrictions were placed on his activities.
Three public officials have sent a letter to the Parole Division questioning its decision to allow the offender to move into the apartment building.
Tom Grant, assistant to the chairman of the Parole Division in Albany, said the agency was investigating how the offender was placed in the Bay Terrace building and said a report would be ready by next week.
According to the New York State Sex Offender Registry Web site, the man lives in a Bay Terrace building that is part of the Towers at Water’s Edge, a complex of three high-rise residential co-ops. Residents of the complex said he lives in the Seville building.
The man, who is listed on the registry as a high-risk sexual predator, was convicted in February 2001 of sexually abusing two boys, ages 8 and 5. He was sentenced to three years in jail.
According to the special conditions listed on the Web site, he is to have no contact with children under 18 years of age unless in the company of an adult over 21 and with the permission of a supervisor. He must also participate in a sex offender treatment program and has a curfew, among other provisions.
A spokeswoman for Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said the sex offender had not been arrested since Sept. 14, 2000, when the sexual abuse charges were filed.
A resident of the Seville estimated there were about 75 children living in the development’s three high-rises.
“What do you tell your children?” she asked.
Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) said residents notified him about the man’s presence, which people familiar with the co-op said was discovered by a building resident who recognized the offender’s photo on the wall of her Bay Terrace dentist’s office.
The complex held two meetings with law enforcement and elected officials last month. Avella, state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) and state Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza (D-Bayside) wrote a letter Dec. 17 to the Parole Division to ask that the offender be relocated.
“It is clear that he does not belong in this environment,” the legislators wrote. “There are children in the immediate area, the building is not secure, and one of his victims lives nearby.”
The legislators said children lived on the same floor as the offender.
“The building lacks security cameras and has a number of back entrances, hallways and is attached to a dimly lit parking garage,” they said.
The lawmakers also said the state Parole Division had not contacted either the building’s management or nearby PS 169 to let them know that the offender was moving in.
“The Division of Parole’s highest priority is community safety,” said Grant. “Whenever there is a parolee placed in a location, that is most paramount.”
“You’ve got a guy who’s a convicted pedophile living in a location where there are children nearby,” Grant said. “Should he be there? Why was he put there? Is this appropriate?”
Residents of the Bay Terrace complex were asking the same questions.
“No one knew he was coming,” said Fred Blumenfeld, president of the Versailles building next door to the Seville. “We feel it’s the wrong place for this young man to be even though he paid his time or his dues.”
A Parole Division source said the agency’s investigation was looking at whether the community was properly notified. The ability of the Parole Division or local law enforcement to perform “blanket notifications” in the community has been blocked by a court injunction, the source said, leaving the process to be handled on a case-by-case basis with vulnerable populations a priority for notification.
Blumenfeld expressed concern not only for children but for elderly residents of the complex who feared for their safety. He said the residents’ goal was “to get him out of here.”
The sex offender’s father declined comment and the offender could not be reached.
Stavisky wanted the gray areas of the parolee’s rights explained in more detail.
“The special conditions on the Web site are not clearly spelled out by any means,” she said. “What happens if he’s in an elevator? It says he has a curfew. Can he go to someone else’s apartment, or is that simply for his own apartment? There are a lot of unanswered questions.”
Reach reporter Ayala Ben-Yehuda by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
