THE PERV NEXT DOOR

Angie Perna watched as her child played in a Howard Beach playground, running around the sprinkler and climbing the jungle gym on a recent sunny day. The mother had no idea, however, that a convicted child abuser has been living in the community, his residence less than half a mile away from the playground.
“Oh my God, I’m shocked,” she said. “This is good to know, I’ll keep my eyes open.”
Other parents accompanying their children on the playground were shaken but thankful when a Courier reporter showed them the sex offender’s profile, which can be found online at www.criminaljustice.state.ny.us/nsor/search_index.htm.
“I never heard anything about that,” said Sonia Gonzales, who was with her granddaughter. “I’m going to tell my husband about him. That’s good to know because there are kids here and at school.”
Howard Beach currently only has one registered sex offender — of 1,050 in the borough of Queens and 5,567 in New York City — according to the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). There are 45 registered sex offenders living in the zip codes of Ozone Park and South Ozone Park. Some have been convicted of sexually abusing boys and girls as young as three-years-old, while others have been found guilty of raping and/or sodomizing numerous women of different ages.
“Much like other violent crimes in the city, it seems sex crimes have taken a troubling turn for the worse,” said Councilmember and Chair of the Public Safety Committee Peter Vallone. Sex offenders have the “highest recidivism rate of all violent crimes,” he noted. Vallone said that these criminals need longer sentences and tougher monitoring, which includes ankle bracelets for those out of prison.
Councilmember Joseph Addabbo said that he put forth legislation that would disallow sex offenders from living a certain distance from a school or a playground, but it hit some legal snafus. The City Council’s legal team is now working out the language on the bill, he said. “I’m all for getting a person rehabilitated back in the community,” Addabbo said, “but sex offenders are a different type of illness.”
There are three levels of classification for sex offenders by their risk of re-offending: low-risk (Level 1), moderate risk (Level 2) and high-risk (Level 3), according to DCJS. Low-risk offenders are not listed in the online registry, but information on them can be found by calling the Sex Offender Registry Information Line at 800-262-3257. Local law enforcement agencies may also tell the community about level 1, level 2 and level 3 sex offenders who live in their area.
The high rate of recidivism among sex offenders, especially high-risk individuals, could be attributed to numerous factors, said Michelle Galietta, a clinical psychiatrist and director of the Forensic Psychology Ph.D. program at John Jay College. Many of the programs to assess and treat sex offenders are inadequate, she said. “A lot of programs aren’t targeted towards the right level. The services need to be targeted based on risk.” She added, “The system itself has a lot of problems.”
Treatment and risk assessment of sex offenders should depend on their own understanding of whether they have a problem and their attitude towards treatment, Galietta said. However, she warned, “Treatment itself does not decrease risk.”
Following a string of four sexual attacks the week of July 6, two of which were against minors, Councilmember Leroy Comrie warned that the number of cases of rape is rising in his district.
There have been 112 cases of rape, a 17.8 increase from last year, reported to the police of Patrol Borough Queens South to date this year, according to police statistics. Queens North reported 69 cases this year, a 9.2 percent decrease.
Rape has been on the decline during the last three years, according to DCJS statistics. In Queens, there were 355 cases of rape in 2005; 257 in 2006; and 207 in 2007. Citywide, the number of rape cases has decreased by about 500 from 2005 to 2007, to 875. About 35 percent of rape cases in 2006 were against children. Cases of sexual assault against children, which is anyone younger than 17, hit a four-year high with 792 in 2005, but dipped again in 2006 to 722 cases.
Comrie stressed that people need to have a heightened awareness of the risks of traveling to and from work, which is when some of the recent victims were attacked. The police have to be proactive with monitoring the streets for possible sexual predators, he said.
The knowledge of local sex offenders’ whereabouts could decrease the risk of attacks, according to experts.
“Community input and community knowledge is critical,” Addabbo said. He added that new laws can help, but only if they are put into practice. “Enforcement is a huge piece of the puzzle.”
Although none of the people spoken to for this article had accessed the sex offender registry, they said they would remember the faces and names shown in the profiles and access the database in the future.
“We just have to be aware and our children have to be aware,” said Margery Fontanelle, who was waiting for a bus in Jamaica on a block where a registered sex offender lives, and where another offender lives a block away. “We have to get accustomed to their faces.”