Nearly 6,000 serious sex offenders live in NYC \u2014 where a legal loophole allows convicted predators to live frighteningly close to schools and children\u2019s playgrounds, The Post has learned.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Paul Brown<\/a>, a level 3 sex offender \u2014 the most serious classification, where the ex-con is considered most likely to re-offend \u2014 did seven years in prison for attempting to rape a 7-year-old girl in Brownsville, Brooklyn, according to records and police sources.<\/p>\n Brown was released in November 2009 and returned to custody two more times in 2009 and 2012 for unknown violations, records show.<\/p>\n Paul Brown, a level 3 sex offender, did seven years in prison for attempting to rape a 7-year-old girl \u2014 but now lives frighteningly close to a Bronx school and playground. Division of Criminal Justice Services<\/p>\n But because of a loophole in the state law \u2014 which prohibits sexual predators from living within 1,000 feet of playgrounds and schools, but only while the offender is on parole or probation \u2014 the 49-year-old lives just 450 feet from Edenwald Playground and 750 feet from PS 112 in the Bronx neighborhood of Wakefield.<\/p>\n Two local moms, Jenifer Ramirez and Yakira Colon, were horrified to learn of the sicko\u2019s proximity to their kids\u2019 school and playground \u2014 and that a whopping 135 other offenders live in their zip code, the second-most in the city.<\/p>\n \u201cI am very surprised because I thought it was safe here,\u201d Colon, 34, told The Post, adding that her 10- and 6-year-old sons and 8-year-old daughter are in the playground nearly every day.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI feel very suspicious of the area now,\u201d echoed Ramirez, 40, who has a 14-year-old daughter. \u201cWe know that many kids tell their moms, \u2018Mama, we want to go to the park now,\u2019 and then the kids go alone. What will happen if there\u2019s a predator? The kids don\u2019t know how to defend themselves. We thought it was safe, but I don\u2019t feel secure anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n The loophole in state law allows Brown to live just 450 feet away from Edenwald Playground in Wakefield. J.C. Rice<\/p>\n \u201cIf parents let their kids go to the park alone, in reality, there\u2019s going to be consequences, by these people who are not healthy in the head,\u201d agreed Colon. \u201cBut it\u2019s tough \u2013 it\u2019s a dilemma \u2013 because many parents have to work and can\u2019t be with the children all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n The same loophole allows level 3 offender Victor Guardiola<\/a> \u2014 convicted in 2010 of sexually abusing his 10-year-old granddaughter, and sodomizing another 10-year-old girl in 1989 \u2014 to reside 600 feet away from Martin Luther King Jr. Playground in East New York, the registry shows.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Lax location restrictions<\/a> play into the hands of child predators, experts say.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know from seasoned sex crime investigators is that a lot of sex offenders are disproportionately likely to commit sex offenses close to where they live,\u201d said Jane Manning, a former sex crimes prosecutor and director of Women\u2019s Equal Justice.<\/p>\n Moms Jenifer Ramirez and Yakira Colon were horrified to learn of Brown\u2019s proximity to their kids\u2019 school and playground. LP Media<\/p>\n The loophole is the reason state Assemblyman Joe Sempolinski (R-Allegany) is fighting to pass a bill which would prohibit sex offenders from residing within a quarter mile \u2014 or 1,320 feet \u2014 from any school, playground or park regardless of their parole or probation status.<\/p>\n Convicted predators \u201cdon\u2019t magically get better when their parole is up,\u201d Sempolinski told The Post.\u00a0\u201cThey\u2019re no longer incarcerated, but we need to make sure that we\u2019re taking steps to protect kids at all times<\/a>, and I think it\u2019s a pretty reasonable ask that we, as a state, say that people who have committed and been convicted of crimes of this nature should not be living near places where kids congregate.\u201d<\/p>\n Victor Guardiola, a level 3 offender, resides 600 feet away from Martin Luther King Jr. Playground in East New York. Division of Criminal Justice Services<\/p>\n The legislation<\/a> has been around since 2012 but has repeatedly died in the Democrat-controlled Assembly, records show.<\/p>\n Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who has reportedly blocked bills<\/a> that would benefit sex crime victims, did not respond to inquiries about the latest proposed legislation.<\/p>\n A total of 5,750 level 2 and 3 sex offenders \u2014 the most serious of three designations \u2014 live in the five boroughs, according to a Post analysis of the state registry, which is updated daily. The state registry lookup can be found here<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The five zip codes with the highest concentrations of level 2 and 3 sex offenders include:\u00a0<\/p>\n 10035, which encompasses Ward\u2019s Island and part of East Harlem, is home to 459 offenders. Most of them them are in psychiatric centers and men\u2019s shelters on Ward\u2019s Island.\u00a0<\/p>\n 10466, which covers Wakefield, has 136 offenders. At least 55 reside at Project Renewal Ana\u2019s Place, a 108-bed shelter for mentally-ill men at 430 Bronx Blvd.<\/p>\n 11207, which encompasses East New York in Brooklyn, is home to 135 offenders.<\/p>\n 10457, which covers parts of Belmont, Mt. Hope and Tremont in the Bronx, counts 129 offenders.<\/p>\n 11208, which encompasses parts of Brooklyn\u2019s East New York and Cyprus Hills, and is home to 128 offenders.\u00a0<\/p>\n Melinda Perkins, the district manager for Brooklyn Community Board 5, which covers part of East New York, called Guardiola\u2019s proximity to Edenwald Playground \u201cterrible,\u201d and blasted city agencies for allowing the nabe to become \u201coversaturated\u201d with sex offenders compared to other areas.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cCertain facilities and services should be shared across the city, and shouldn\u2019t be oversaturated in any one community board \u2014 especially those communities that have had a history of neglect and disinvestment like East New York,\u201d Perkins told The Post.<\/p>\n Even some of the city\u2019s ritziest zip codes are home to a significant number of level 2 and 3 sex offenders, including:\u00a0<\/p>\n 11222, which covers Brooklyn\u2019s Greenpoint, where 45 offenders live. The majority of them \u2014 32 \u2014 reside in Home-Life Services, a homeless shelter complex on Clay Street and Manhattan Avenue.\u00a0<\/p>\n 11201, Brooklyn Heights, is home to 17 predators.\u00a0<\/p>\n 11211, which covers Williamsburg in Brooklyn, has 17 offenders.\u00a0<\/p>\n 11217, or Brooklyn\u2019s Boerum Hill, includes 15 predators.<\/p>\n 10010, which encompasses Kips Bay in Manhattan, has 13 offenders.<\/p>\n