The New York City Department of Homeless Services has placed two convicted pedophiles and three other sex offenders in a homeless shelter near elementary schools in Lower Manhattan.
According to the New York Post, the five men were placed in the Radisson Hotel at 52 William Street in Manhattan’s financial district, which had been converted into a homeless refuge in March of 2020. The hotel was listed as the location for four of the men on New York’s sex-offender register as recently as October 21.
A local parent told The Post:
“As parents, we cannot count on local government to look out for our children. I am not opposed to helping those in need and providing shelters for the homeless in my community, but I am against placing violent pedophiles with a block of schools.”
The shelter is two blocks from the New York Stock Exchange building and less than a block from the Pine Street School for Pre-K and elementary school. Another school and a daycare center are also reportedly within 500 feet of the shelter.
'We don't feel our kids are safe': Outrage over pedophiles in NYC shelter https://t.co/Dg1PROTNbh pic.twitter.com/ukxwUSxUZ6
— New York Post (@nypost) October 22, 2021
Complaints from nearby residents led to the men’s removal.
According to the emails from the Department of Homeless Services obtained by The Post, the “placement issues at this site” have been “resolved.”
Lee Jackson, 42, was one of the convicts in the shelter. He was paroled in 2016 as a level three sexually violent offender. Jackson was sentenced to ten years in prison in 2005 for sexually abusing a 7-year-old child in Brooklyn. He was also convicted of manslaughter, but it’s unclear if the crimes were related.
Lonzel McNeil, 53, was also in the shelter. In 1993, McNeil was convicted of raping an 11-year-old child and was released on parole in 2000. It is against New York state law for paroled level three sex offenders to go within 1000 feet of a school. However, Jackson and McNeil are reportedly no longer on parole.
A local mom of two children attending the Pine Street School said she is concerned for their safety, telling The Post, “Families no longer feel safe. We don’t feel our kids are safe…I used to take nightly walks, 10 to 11 p.m. I no longer leave my house alone at night.”
Don Parker, a 52-year-old homeless shelter resident, was also angry about sharing a space with pedophiles and sex offenders.
Parker echoed the concern of the parents, saying:
“If you got kids you should feel the same way. There are certain things you just don’t do.”
In August of 2020, Mayor Bill De Blasio moved thousands of the city’s homeless into luxurious hotels on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
The relocation included homeless sex offenders, prompting a series of meetings between concerned residents and the Guardian Angels, a volunteer crime-fighting organization. During the August 2020 move, six homeless pedophiles were housed at the Belleclaire Hotel, only a block away from a playground and an elementary school.
