County's trailer hocus-pocus

I give a lot of credit to Mason Haas and Mike Brewer for trying to do something constructive about the county warehousing homeless sex offenders in our community. (They've organized a community forum Jan. 15 at Riverhead High School. Assemblymen Marc Alessi and Fred Thiele, County Legislators Ed Romaine and Jay Schneiderman, and representatives of the county Department of Social Services will be on hand.)

Getting people together is a good first step. It's important for people to understand why the county is dumping all of its homeless sex offenders in a trailer at the jail in Riverside and why the county's policy is wrong.

The county has a legal obligation to provide homeless people with a place to sleep. It turned out there was a saturation of homeless shelters housing registered sex offenders in the Coram area, and when the extent of the saturation was exposed by news reports, there was a loud public outcry. In response, the county announced a new program that would rotate homeless sex offenders among several trailers at different locations throughout the county. That way, according to chief deputy commissioner of social services Greg Blass, the burden would be shared. That sounded reasonable. But the rotation thing ended almost as fast as it was begun, and the trailer in the parking lot of the county jail in Riverside quickly became the only place where homeless sex offenders can bed down as the county's guests.

It got crowded. So they brought in an even bigger trailer. And they reportedly are outfitting the bigger trailer with bunk beds, so they can cram even more in there.

County social services officials are big on double-talk when it comes to explaining why Riverhead-area residents shouldn't be concerned about hosting the county's flophouse for homeless convicted child molesters and rapists. They are brought to the trailer only to sleep, we're told. They are dropped off at county social services offices throughout Suffolk during the day, we're told. Officials give no clear answers about how these men spend their days after being dropped off. Nor do they explain what happens to them on weekends and holidays when the social services offices are closed -- other than to say that they are driven to some up-island industrial park for showers. (The trailer has no shower -- or kitchen.) But, we're told, they're not left to wander the streets of Riverhead. So don't worry.

But we do worry. And so we should. The county's track record on this subject does not inspire confidence. And the trailer is a short walk from our public library, the historical society (a popular place for school class trips) and several public schools.

If the sex offenders are dumped at their "home" county social services centers on weekdays, as we're told, what threats do they pose to the communities near those centers? You should be interested in that, too, because Riverhead hosts one of the county's five social services centers. How many of the homeless sex offenders are being dropped off on East Main Street in Riverhead, then -- and left to wander our streets? We have a right to straight answers, and we're not getting them.

East End county legislators Ed Romaine and Jay Schneiderman introduced a bill in October that would limit to four the number of registered sex offenders that could be placed in emergency housing (like the trailer) in any given zip code. The bill hasn't gone anywhere and even if it is adopted, the county executive would likely veto it.

We need to hold our local officials accountable for their inexcusable passivity on this subject. Supervisor Phil Cardinale and the Town Board have barely said anything. Three councilmen are ex-cops. I can't believe they're not incensed at the county dumping homeless sex offenders on our community like this. The fourth is married to the chief deputy commissioner of social services, the very agency that's perpetrating this mess, so her reticence is more easily explained.

The Town Board's great contribution to the "fight" against the trailer was to make a park out of a little strip of land on West Main Street -- which they named after self-appointed town government watchdog George Schmelzer. I wish Mr. Schmelzer were alive to give the board what-for about its pathetically lame attempt to "do something" about the sex offender trailer dumped in our backyard by the county. Never mind putting his name on it. Mr. Schmelzer always told it like it was. I can only just imagine what he'd be saying at the Town Hall meeting room podium.

Meet your new neighbor, a registered sex offender

We may not live in a battleground state, but we still get robocalls. And all too often, the robocall is to inform us that a level two or three registered sex offender has moved into the Riverhead area.

Like their political counterparts, these robocalls tend to induce fear.

Here's the one I got on my voice mail Thursday night:

"Good evening. This is Nancy Carney from the Riverhead school district. We have received notification from the Southampton Town Police Department that a moderate risk, level two sex offender is residing in the Riverhead area."

Also like their political counterparts, these robocalls are not very informative. The school official doesn't tell us who the sex offender is or where he lives or works "in the Riverhead area."

How useful.

If you are a parent -- and you are if you're getting this robocall, which is going out only to parents of children registered in the district -- odds are you'd want to know this pertinent information. I mean, isn't that the whole point of the sex offender registration and notification law? To get that information out to the public, especially parents, to protect our children?

Maybe. Maybe not.

The robocall message continues: "Information regarding the individual is available at the district office." In other words, we have the information, but we're just not giving it to you now.

So how do I get the information? It's important for me to know, right? It's important enough that there's a state law mandating disclosure of the addresses of sexual predators, so surely it must be easy to get my hands on the information, right?

Not exactly, at least not according to the school district.

"Should you wish further information," the robocall message continues, "you may examine our records regarding this matter at the Riverhead Central School District office Monday through Friday between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m."

In other words, I have to take off from work to go to the school district office to "examine" this record. That's swell. But, wait -- they're not done making this as complicated and inconvenient as possible: "It will be required that you complete a Freedom of Information request prior to the examination of these files." And the robocaller doesn't offer any help on how to make the Freedom of Information request. (I'd bet plenty of parents aren't even familiar with what that is, let alone how to make it.)

Since the police department informed the school district of the sex offender moving in, maybe I could get the information from the police.

"Do not contact the local police department," warns the robocall, "as they are unable to provide you with any information."

Say what?

I'm not sure why the school district thinks it's a good idea to make such completely uninformative and somewhat misleading robocalls about a subject so important to parents. But I'll bet lawyers had something to do with it.

In the interest of providing useful information to other parents who are as concerned as I am about sexual predators roaming our streets, here's the deal.

You can find out the names, addresses and descriptions of the level two and three registered sex offenders living in our community by going to the state sex offender registry Web site, http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/, where you can also view mug shots and find out the details about the offenders' convictions. Be warned: It is not a pleasant experience; this stuff will make your skin crawl.

You can get a lot of the same information, plus interactive maps, from a Web site called familywatchdog.us. In addition, you can sign up for e-mail alerts from familywatchdog.us, which will notify you every time a level two or three registered sex offender moves into your ZIP code. The Stony Brook-based Parents for Megan's Law organization offers the same service through its Web site, parentsformeganslaw.org.

Sex offenders are classified as levels one, two or three, according to the likelihood of the offender repeating his or her sex crime. Level three is someone considered at high risk of repeating. Level two indicates moderate risk.

According to the state registry, a total of 32 level two and three sex offenders live in the "Riverhead area" (including the 11901 and 11933 ZIP codes). Of those 32, 16 are homeless men being warehoused by the county social services department in the controversial trailer sitting in the parking lot of the county jail. The agency used to put homeless sex offenders in housing in communities throughout the county, until there was an uproar in places like Coram and Mastic about "sex offender saturation." Then the county simply began dumping them in Riverhead -- effectively doubling the number of level two and three registered sex offenders who call Riverhead "home."

Twelve of the 16 men sleeping in the trailer -- you can't call it "living" since they have no kitchen or shower, just cots lined up nice and tight -- are level three offenders.

In contrast, of the 16 registered sex offenders living in private homes in Riverhead, only five are classified level three.

Some of these offenders are considered "sexually violent offenders," i.e., they committed forcible rape or sodomy. Many of them committed crimes against children, with some victims as young as 4 or 5 years old.

Parents, don't bury your heads in the sand. Get informed. And don't let bureaucratic red tape and "lawyered" notifications dissuade you from exercising your right to know. The information is readily available on the Internet, 24/7. Go get it. This is one of those times when what you don't know can hurt you -- or the people you love most.

Steve Levy, quit dumping on Riverhead

Wake up, Riverhead! What's it going to take to get the people of this community to rise up and tell County Executive Steve Levy we're not going to stand for being a dumping ground for the county's homeless sex offenders and we're not going to tolerate any more bull?

How about this? The county is now planning to replace the cots in the trailer with bunk beds, so the county can double up the number of men "living" in the trailer? (See story in the Oct. 9 edition of The News-Review.) That will allow twice as many sex offenders to live in the trailer.

Stack 'em up and pack 'em in, Stevie boy. Thank you very much.

When the county first set up house for homeless sex offenders in a trailer in the parking lot of the county jail in Riverside in early 2007, county officials told this community the trailer was going to be moved from one location in Suffolk County to another.

Bull chips. It hasn't budged.

Despite complaints from residents and town officials, not only did the county keep the trailer here, it brought in an even bigger one, so it could house even more homeless sex offenders. Now 16 convicted sex offenders, some of them bearing the "violent sex offender" designation and the vast majority of whom are deemed "level three" by the state, or at high risk of repeating their heinous crimes -- many of them against little children -- call that trailer home.

When residents and town officials complained, because this concentration of dangerous sex offenders, thanks to the County of Suffolk, was living within walking distance of the library and several public schools, county officials told us not to worry. The sex offenders were kept locked up in the trailer at night under the watchful eye of private security guards behind a secure fence (even though the men are not, technically, in jail) and during the day they are taken in a county van to their "home" social services offices.

More bull chips. The "secure" fence has a gaping hole in it and a wide-open gate through which anyone can stroll, any time. (They're fixing it now, they say.)

Well, we asked, what about on weekends and holidays, when county offices are closed? What happens then?

On weekends, the county spokes-hack tells us, the men are driven up-island to shower at an industrial complex whose location the county refuses to disclose.

All right, that's half a day. What about the other day-and-a-half every weekend? And the trailer's got no kitchen. What do they do for meals?

Humminna ... humminna ... humminna...

The needle on the bull chip meter just went wild.

The county rejected my idea of moving the trailer to land outside the county's minimum security jail in Yaphank -- a very good idea, if I do say so myself -- because the Yaphank site is undergoing a $150 million renovation that "makes it impossible" to place the trailer there.

Wanna bet this is just more bull?

And now, in the add-insult-to-injury department: bunk beds, so the county can squeeze 40 men in a trailer now equipped to house only 20.

Remember, folks, the county trailer came into being because other communities -- Coram and Mastic -- objected loudly to the large number of registered sex offenders in county housing within their borders. Mr. Levy's solution was to put them in a trailer and rotate the trailer around the county. It would be moved every week or two, we were told at the time.

Social Services deputy commissioner and Jamesport resident Greg Blass (our former county legislator, one-time Family Court judge and the husband of Councilwoman Barbara Blass) told The New York Times in February 2007 that the trailer would be rotated around county-owned sites "in large, undeveloped areas away from communities."

Uh, like downtown Riverhead?

"[Sex offenders] have tended to locate permanently in places where they were placed in temporary shelters," Mr. Blass was quoted in The Times. "This lets us avoid making any one area a haven for sex offenders. It's an attempt to prevent saturation."

Except saturation is OK if it's in Riverhead.

Mr. Levy, a Democrat cross-endorsed by the Republicans last time out, thinks he is politically invulnerable; he certainly doesn't think he needs Riverhead's votes. He believes he can do whatever suits him.

And right now, dumping on Riverhead suits the county executive just fine. It's convenient, and not too many voters seem to give a damn. This is Riverhead, after all. We're used to it.

Besides, Stevie figures what better place to dump all the county's homeless sex offenders than a town where a convicted sex offender once headed up the Business Improvement District and actually ran for supervisor? We must be a very tolerant place.

C'mon, people, make some noise.

Copyright 2008 Times/Review Newspapers Corp.

MEET THE HOMELESS SEX OFFENDERS THE COUNTY DUMPED IN RIVERHEAD NOT FAR FROM YOUR CHILD'S SCHOOL

These are the registered sex offenders currently housed in the Dept. of Social Services trailer in the parking lot of the county jail in Riverside, on Route 24, according to the NYS sex offender registry. There are presently 17 men living in the trailer, dumped there by the county (beginning in 2007), a stone's throw from Riverhead library and within walking distance to two public elementary schools, an intermediate school, a middle school and a high school. Eleven of these men were convicted of sex crimes against children, as indicated below.

I've posted their information and mug shots here so you can see for yourself, educate your children and, I hope, complain to County Executive Steve Levy for using Riverhead as a dumping ground for the county's homeless sex offenders. It's dangerous and it's just plain wrong. (My editorial about this situation is posted below.)

Speak out. Call Steve Levy at 853-4000 or e-mail him at county.executive@suffolkcountyny.gov.

Under state law, the court classifies sex offenders according to the risk of them committing another sex crime.

• Level one (low risk);
• Level two (medium risk); and
• Level three (high risk).

Andre Briggs (aka Andre Greene)
DOB 8/3/1963
Level 2
black; 5-11; 170;
5/31/1986- sodomy 1st degree, rape 1st degree, sexual abuse 1st degree
female, unknown age

************************
Donald Brown (aka Donald Evans)
DOB 6/26/1982
Level 3
black; 6-0; 207
1999- sodomy 1st degree
victim female, 8 yrs. old


************************
Carmine Califano
DOB 7/31/1962
Level 3
white; 5-9; 185
brown hair, green eyes
sexually violent offender
1992- sodomy 1st degree, sexual abuse 1st degree,
victim female 11 yrs old


************************

Luis Casanova
DOB 3/22/1953
Level 3
black; hispanic; 5-3; 185
black hair, brown eyes
3/8/2001 - use of a child less than 17 in a sexual performance
sexual abuse 1st degree
possessing a sexual performance by a child less than 16
victim female, 13 y/o

************************
Anthony Consolazio
DOB 4/14/1968
Level 3
white; 5-6; 165; blonde hair green eyes
sexually violent offender
course of sexual conduct against child
sodomy 3rd degree
victims male, 10 yrs old; male, 15


*************************
Eric Gallon
DOB 9/9/1983
Level 3
black; 5-8; 185

2002- rape 2nd degree
victim female, 14 y/o

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Eric Greaves
DOB 2/15/1982
Level 3
white; 6-0; 135; brown hair, brown eyes
2002- rape 2nd degree




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Robert Harris
DOB 10/16/1963
Level 3
black; 5-6; 185
2006- rape 2nd degree
victim female 13 yrs old




************************

Joseph Milnes
DOB 8/16/1953
Level 3
white; 5-9; 175; brown hair, blue eyes
2000- attempted rape 1st degree
victim female, 18 yrs old



************************
Raul Oquendo
DOB 5/2/1967
Level 2
white; hispanic; 5-7; 155; black hair, brown eyes
2006- rape 2nd degree
Victim female, 11 yrs old




************************
Louis Reyes
DOB 9/9/1954
Level 3
white; hispanic; 5-10; 195; brown hair, brown eyes
sexually violent offender
1996- rape 1st degree, female, 33 y/o




************************
Lucas Rivera
DOB 9/7/1961
Level 3
white; hispanic; 5-10; 160; brown hair, brown eyes
predicate sex offender
attempted sodomy 3




******************************
Daniel Rosenblad
DOB 5/25/1964
Level 2
white; 5-10; 160; blonde hair, blue eyes
sexual abuse 1st degree
victim male, 7 yrs old


******************************
Raul Torres
DOB 12/31/1965
Level 3
white; hispanic; 5-11; 215; brown hair, hazel eyes
sexually violent offender
sexual abuse 1st degree
victim female, 6 yrs old


********************************
Robert Trocchio
DOB 2/24/1963
Level 3
white; 5-6; 177; black hair, hazel eyes
1982 sodomy 1st degre



************************

Jermaine Walton
DOB 6/20/1974
Level 3
black; 5-8; 155; black hair, brown eyes
sexually violent offender
sexual abuse 1st
victim female younger than 17 yrs old

****************************
I've also mapped out the registered sex offenders living in the 11901 zip code (on both sides of the Peconic) other than those who are incarcerated at the county jail or living in the DSS trailer. (See below.)

Please note this information is current as of today, and is subject to change DAILY. Under Meghan's Law, the police must notify the school district when a registered sex offender moves into the district. The district notifies its residents. The notification is not taking place regarding the homeless men in the county trailer, because, as social services recipients, they have a right to confidentiality, according to the county executive's spokesman. Good for them, bad for our kids.

If you click on the blue pins, you will see the registered sex offenders name, classification and conviction information.


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