I'd rather live next to a Registered Person than next to this scumbag or any other vigilante filth. Cusano thinks it is not right and curses the fact that harassing registered persons is illegal. Why am I not surprised that his bosom buddy, Bryan Gonski, supports Kyle Rittenhouse, the wannabe vigilante now in trial for murder? Perhaps someday, we'll see one of these fucktards behind bars for something similar.
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/When-sex-offender-moved-in-neighbors-petitioned-16589893.php
When sex offender moved in, neighbors petitioned to force him out
Police say parolee in Glenville neighborhood is following rules, but neighbors worry
Nov. 10, 2021
Updated: Nov. 10, 2021 10:39 a.m.
GLENVILLE — Danielle Marocco readily admits feeling a huge sense of relief when she noticed the "For Sale" sign on the lawn of a new neighbor.
That’s because she and others along a quiet suburban street in East Glenville fear the resident, a paroled Level 3 sex offender who victimized a boy, might hurt other young children.
“We just love the area, we love the neighborhood — in the summertime the ice cream truck goes by,” said Marocco, who has lived on the street with her husband and their children since February. “This isn’t our dream house, but it’s our dream neighborhood.”
In 2006, the man at the center of the furor was charged in Warren County by State Police with one count of first-degree criminal sexual contact with a 12-year-old boy he knew, according to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services and the state Department of Corrections and Community Services.
The agencies' online information indicates he pleaded guilty to the offense in May 2007 and was sentenced to 14 years in prison with five years of post-release supervision. He was released to parole supervision in June 2019 and for a time lived in Schenectady before purchasing the split ranch home in Glenville, according to online sources and county real estate records.
The 1,534-square-foot residence is now on the market with a list price of $265,000.
Thousands of people have been convicted of sex crimes in New York; those convicted of the most serious crimes appear on the public portion of the state's Sex Offender Registry, which makes it easy for residents to look up the identities of offenders living in their neighborhoods.
Frequently, the arrival of a sex offender causes disquiet among neighbors.
In the Glenville case, another neighbor, Mike Cusano, launched an online petition on change.org titled #NotInMyNeighborhood that as of Tuesday had 572 supporters. An updated message in bold letters by the author declared victory after the man put the home up for sale.
The petition wants him out, saying his presence has cast a pall over a neighborhood where ordinarily "the air is filled with children's laughter and kids playing outside."
The man did not respond to several attempts to contact him over the past week, including visits to his home, and phone numbers listed for him in public records have been disconnected. A parole officer listed for him online did not return a call last week seeking comment.
Daniel Lambright, a senior staff attorney with the New York Civil Liberties Union, said sexual abuse is most often carried out by someone known to the victim or the victim's family.
"There's no empirical evidence that residency restrictions work in protecting children or protecting families," he said, "and restrictions are primarily based on a false premise that there's that stranger lurking in the bushes that is going to come out and attack their child."
New York law forbids high-risk offenders under state or county supervision from “knowingly entering” school grounds and child care facilities, language that courts have interpreted to also mean that those offenders cannot live within 1,000 feet of a school. Multiple counties are also extending the 1,000-foot rule to cover day care facilities, preschools and other child care centers.
Resident Amelia Mindel, who also has children, rejected the notion that neighbors were trying to force the man out. Mindel was part of an Oct. 27 community meeting set up by Supervisor Chris Koetzle to discuss the issue, a meeting that included state Sen. Jim Tedisco and Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh, along with Glenville Police Chief Stephen Janik.
“I think what we’re doing at this point is really trying to raise awareness regarding the safety of having individuals like our neighbor residing in a community that is so child-centered and child-friendly,” Mindel said, adding there is a day care and group home 800 and 500 feet away, respectively, from where the man lives with a female relative. “We’re not trying to do a witch hunt or a target,” she said. "It’s more like, what are the actual laws?”
New York law restricts sex offenders who are classed Level 3 — the highest risk to repeat offense — from being within 1,000 feet of a school in a parked vehicle or knowingly being on school grounds when on parole or probation. This designation means an offender must personally verify their address every 90 days with law enforcement where they live, and that agency may take a picture if their appearance has changed.
School grounds are defined as any area contained within the real property boundary line of the school, and may include playgrounds. The rules to not apply to day care facilities.
Tedisco is the co-sponsor of legislation that would extend that prohibition to other facilities that host children during the day, such as day care sites and preschools. “I think the parents and the families and the community — not only in Glenville, but across the state — really have the right to be upset,” he said.
The bill passed the Senate when Tedisco and his fellow Republicans held the majority, but it has languished in the Assembly since 2018. Democrats control both chambers and the legislation has seen little movement. Tedisco is hopeful that will change now that the legislation appears to have bipartisan support.
The senator argued the restrictions proposed covering day care and other child care facilities are common-sense in a state that has rules in place against speeding and drug use in school zones.
Koetzle said he would like to see the proposed legislation, which the Glenville Town Board unanimously voted last week to back, expanded to include places like group bus stops where middle and high school students congregate. He’s also advocating for the state to formally notify a municipality and school district when a registered sex offender moves in.
Lambright said it's a myth that high-risk offenders are more likely to commit the same crime again, and that the use of a Risk Assessment Instrument is "flawed" because it draws on "a lot of factors that have nothing to do with recidivism."
"Certainly, there's of course some recidivism concerned with everybody," he said. "But the overwhelming evidence suggests that people who commit sex offenses don't recidivate any higher than any other members of the community, and further by pushing them into homelessness and anti-social situations you might be actually increasing the chance of maybe not sexual recidivism but recidivism in other kind of criminal ways, so it's real dumb policy and not policy based in any sort of facts."
Chief Janik said the man is following all conditions of his release.
"I cannot treat him any differently than I would any other resident when he is not committing a crime,” he said. “He will receive the same treatment that any other taxpaying citizen receives in the town of Glenville.”
In a statement, DOCCS told the Times Union the Glenville man is in full compliance with the conditions of his release and that the parole officer makes “several contacts” with him each month. Sex offenders are monitored with supervision techniques such as electronic bracelets and periodic lie-detector testing.
Melanie Trimble, regional director of the NYCLU Capital Region, said the group tries to educate people whose fears around an offender moving in can be inflamed by misinformation.
"What we have found is that the sex offender registry really does not help in the rehabilitation process," Trimble said. "What it does is alienate individuals from society and only causes them to go underground and hide so we're very concerned that people can't resettle and rehabilitate themselves after serving their time for crimes, and that only causes more problems down the road.
"Anybody that's served their time ought to be able to re-assimilate back into society in a way that promotes positive change in their life and have them move on," she said.
Marocco is cautiously optimistic the house will soon be sold and life can return to some kind of normalcy.
“We’re definitely encouraged, but I don’t also want to let our guard down," she said. "And so hopefully (the house sale) goes through, and hopefully he can move somewhere that is not in a neighborhood, not in such a kid-friendly family oriented neighborhood, and he has his space, and he can be at peace in his own space, and we can have our peace and happiness in the community back."
