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A converted hotel next to a Chinatown playground is still housing violent sex offenders a full 10 months after The Post blew the whistle — and now a second Manhattan shelter is doing the same thing.
At least two registered sex offenders exposed in a July 5 report — including a level 3 offender, the highest risk — are still calling the former Hotel MB building at 61 Chrystie St. home near the Hester Street Playground, while a third only left because he was sent back to prison time and is now on parole.
Now another Big Apple neighborhood is facing the same fears for local parents, with a half dozen sex offenders holed up at a shelter at 197 Bowery, around the corner from the Rivington Street Playground.
“Our society has become deaf to things that matters,” a 40-year-old mom who lives near the playground with her disabled 4-year-old daughter. “It’s like putting fresh, raw, bleeding meat in front of a shark.
“When I see a child alone in the park when I’m leaving, I tell them to leave because I’d cry if I see it in the news that something happened and I did nothing,” said the woman, who identified herself as EJ.
The Post found at least five level 2 offenders registered at the Bowery building, including Marco Cepeda, who was convicted of sodomizing an 11-year-old boy, and Devereaux Davis, who was convicted of aggravated sexual abuse of a 12-year-old girl.
The others include Edwin Irizarry, who has a first-degree rape on his rap sheet, William Porter, who was convicted of first-degree attempted rape, and Orestis Argyris, who was found guilty of transferring obscene materials to a minor, according to records.
Another former tenant, level 3 offender Larry Powlis, who was convicted of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping, was still living that the shelter on April 7 but has since moved out.
A spokesperson for Breaking Ground, the group that operates the Bowery shelter, referred questions to the city Department of Homeless Services or the NYPD Special Victims Unit, which has oversight of individuals on the registry housed in the Big Apple.
But the group noted that the state’s Sex Offender Registration Act does not address residency restrictions, saying those are covered in separate statutes for paroled or probationary individuals.
A spokesperson for city homeless services told The Post that the department does not house registered sex offenders within 1,000 feet of a school or child care facility, and relies on input from the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to make decisions on placements.
In a statement, the city Department of Social Services said it follows the law.
“DSS provides shelter to anyone in need in accordance with New York City’s Right to Shelter Law while also ensuring compliance with all necessary local laws and regulations, which includes being mindful of residency restrictions and specific criteria laid out in state law,” the statement said.
However, neighborhood parents said lone men frequent the park — raising serious concerns.
“I’m still in a state of shock,” said a 29-year-old local who used to take her 2-year-old to the Rivington playground. “I need some time to think what I’m going to do with my child for the summer. I stopped using one playground and now I have to stop using another. It’s not fair, especially to the children.”
Another local parent agreed.
“I feel angry and worried for the kids,” a paralegal and mother of two said. “How am I supposed to feel safe here whether I Iive here, work in this community or commuting here.
“I don’t know who is approving this and why they think this area is suitable for them,” she said. “I don’t know what would work to stop it but something needs to happen to stop it.”
New Yorkers in one Chinatown neighborhood know how they feel.
In July, The Post reported that at least five sex offenders were living at the Chrystie Street building, including Darren Jackson, a level 3 offender convicted of repeatedly raping a 7-year-old girl in 2010, and Lemar Jackson, who was convicted of sexually assaulting 12- and 9-year-old girls.
Current records show that at least two others who were there in July are still there — level 3 offender Elvin Vega, who was convicted in 1988 of using a blunt object to force the victim it have intercourse, and Legrand Jones, a level 2 offender who molested a 21-year-old woman and was jailed in 2003.
Both shelters are near playgrounds at different ends of Sarah D. Roosevelt Park.
“This is very discouraging,” said Community Board 3 member Kathryn Freed. “The Chinatown community and the community around SDR Park feel that it is not just ignored, but is a dumping ground for potentially problematic people.
“This situation is about to be even more troubling since the warm weather is finally here and the kids will be in the playground and running around the park,” Freed said.
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