By Sophia Chang
The 21-year-old registered sex offender moved out of the Seville building in the Towers at Water's Edge co-op at 18-15 215th St. in October, according to building residents. The man is considered a Level 3 offender, which the state Division of Criminal Justice classifies as a sexual offender who displays a “high risk of repeat offense and a threat to public safety exists,” the state agency's Web site said. He is living on 41st Street in Long Island City and is attending Hunter College, according to the New York State Sex Offender Registry.The man, who was convicted in 2001 of first-degree sexual abuse of two boys aged 5 and 8 and sentenced to up to three years in state prison as a minor, faced angry co-op residents when they discovered his presence last year.”I felt he didn't belong in the building,” said one resident who helped organize the campaign to force the sexual offender to leave. “I thought it was a very inappropriate place for them to put him.” Building residents say there are as many as 75 children living in the co-op, which features an arcade, a swimming pool and a playground for young residents. In addition, community members were worried about the risk to the students who attend nearby PS 169.Last January, a co-op resident recognized the child molester's photo on the wall of her Bay Terrace dentist's office, sparking an outcry and rallies, the TimesLedger reported. City Councilman Tony Avella (D-Bayside) joined state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) and state Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza (D-Bayside) in petitioning the state Parole Division, asking that the offender be relocated. Severe restrictions were placed on the man's movements, including an electronic bracelet and prohibitions on where he could go.”I assume that is why he moved because his every move was being watched,” said Fred Blumenfeld, president of the neighboring Versailles building in the Towers at the Water's Edge complex. “He was around too many kids. Why tempt a man?”Blumenfeld said the man had been able to move into the Seville building without notice because his parents had rented an apartment before his release from prison. The co-op threatened legal action against the man's parents to pressure them to move out. “Knowing the co-op was moving against him, as well as elected officials, the family figured they should just leave,” Avella said. “There was no place for him here,” Blumenfeld said, claiming that the sexual offender even lived on the same floor as two children.Blumenfeld said the man's parents were still living in Bay Terrace on 16th Avenue. “Hopefully, he'll never go back to living with the mother or father,” he said.He expressed some concern over the sexual offender's new location. “We don't want to just shove him from one place to another,” he said. “I don't know who he's near now.” There are two elementary schools in the proximity of the man's new residence, PS 151 at 50-05 31 Ave. and PS 166 at 33-09 35 Ave.”He will strike again. It's only a matter of time,” Blumenfeld said. “There's no question. He's a time bomb.”Reach reporter Sophia Chang by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
