{"id":211055,"date":"2026-04-27T11:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T11:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/211055\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T11:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T11:19:09","slug":"parents-react-to-sex-offenders-still-lurking-in-nyc-neighborhoods-filled-with-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/211055\/","title":{"rendered":"Parents react to sex offenders still lurking in NYC neighborhoods filled with kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parents in a Lower Manhattan neighborhood are holding their kids a little closer since The Post revealed convicted pedophiles are continuing to live near local playgrounds.<\/a><\/p>\n

While cops are keeping a better eye on the area, the sickos still roam around free, forcing disgusted moms and dads to remain hypervigilant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what New York has become,\u201d said EJ, a 40-year-old neighborhood mom, as she recently pushed her young daughter on a swing in Hester Street Playground.<\/p>\n

Children play at the Hester Street Playground, just 243 feet from a shelter housing sex offenders, on April 26, 2026. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post<\/p>\n

The kiddie hot spot is near a converted hotel at 61 Chrystie St., which two high-level registered sex offenders call home.<\/p>\n

A nearby second shelter at 197 Bowery counts a half-dozen sex-offender ex-cons among its residents.<\/p>\n

EJ and other adults scoffed at a state law that only prohibits registered sex offenders from living 1,000 feet clear of child-care facilities if they are still on parole or on strict supervision \u2014 saying it\u2019s not good enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not even a reasonable gap between a child and a threat,\u2019\u2019 EJ said. \u201cWould I put a crocodile 1,000 feet away from my child? No. It would eat her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearby, a 20-year-old college student baby-sitting her 3-year-old cousin agreed.<\/p>\n

A building at 61 Chrystie St. houses sex offenders. Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what\u2019s that supposed to mean? They\u2019re rehabilitated?\u201d she said. \u201cThe ones that abused children should never be allowed to live that close to children.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey should stay away for life as long as their offenses involved children.\u201d<\/p>\n

An NYPD cruiser stopped by to check up on things during the recent Post visit to the park.<\/p>\n

But that hasn\u2019t eased parents\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n

Local parents told The Post they are upset at the idea of sex offenders living right next to Sarah D. Roosevelt Park. Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Post<\/p>\n

The Post first reported on the situation at Chrystie Street in July<\/a>, revealing that at least five Level 2 and 3 sex offenders \u2014 the two most dangerous designations \u2014 were living at the Chinatown shelter, which is just 243 feet from the other shelter housing pervs.<\/p>\n

Their notorious denizens included a creep convicted of raping a 7-year-old girl multiple times and another who molested 12- and 9-year-old girls, both of them serving time in state prison for the sick crimes.<\/p>\n

On April 19, The Post found that at least two of the convicted sex offenders are still living at the sites.<\/p>\n

It also revealed that least five level 2 offenders were still living at the Bowery shelter, which is just around the corner from the Rivington Playground, including one who sodomized an 11-year-old boy and another who was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl.<\/p>\n

The shelter at 197 Bowery also houses registered sex offenders near a local playground. Georgett Roberts<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a parent, this is sickening to me,\u201d local dad and activist Brian Chin said at the time. \u201cWe have so few children\u2019s parks in our neighborhood, and out of all the places that they could put violent sex offenders and pedophiles, they\u2019ve deliberately chosen to put them directly next to two of our kids\u2019 parks here.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese multi-million dollar shelter operators don\u2019t care what kind of danger they\u2019re putting our community in as long as they can make a profit and keep paying themselves half-million dollar salaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

A rep for Breaking Ground, the operators of the Bowery shelter, said last week that the city Department of Homeless Services and the NYPD Special Victims Unit has regulatory oversight.<\/p>\n

They said state law does not address residency restrictions.<\/p>\n

City DHS officials said the Big Apple\u2019s Right to Shelter Law \u201cprovides shelter to anyone in need,\u201d while noting that the department adheres to all state and local laws and regulations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parents in a Lower Manhattan neighborhood are holding their kids a little closer since The Post revealed convicted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[4207,9098,359,75,84,83,57,9,24,63,80288,11854,58],"class_list":["post-211055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-children","tag-chinatown","tag-lower-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-playgrounds","tag-sex-offenders","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}