Belleclaire Residents with Troubling Pasts (Updated)

  Last modified on April 9th, 2023

The following article may disturb and upset some readers. Please continue at your discretion.

Several readers recently brought something very troubling to our attention: 14 current residents of the Belleclaire Hotel, located at 2175 Broadway (at 77th Street), listed as registered sex offenders.

For those who haven’t read the specific conviction records, we have. The youngest victims range from 4 to 12 years old.

UPDATES

7/29/2020: Helen Rosenthal Vows To Have Sex Offenders Relocated

8/9/2020: Helen Rosenthal Clarifies Stance on Belleclaire Sex Offenders

We don’t know when exactly they were moved in, but we’ve sent emails to a number of elected officials for more information. Emails have been sent to Helen Rosenthal, the Department of Homeless Services, CB7 Chair Mark Diller, The Belleclaire Hotel (owned by Triumph Hotels), Gale Brewer, Linda Rosenthal, and Help USA (the organization managing the site).


We are hoping to find out why this hotel – located a short distance from a public school – was chosen in the first place, and what the terms of their stay were. Homeless residents began to arrive at the Belleclaire in early May, when it became a temporary shelter. We’re not sure, though, if the individuals on the sex offender registry arrived then or at a later point in time.

The list of names and offenses can be found here. By clicking on each name, you’ll be taken to a page which includes each individual’s current address, offense details and more (not all of these individuals have the Belleclaire Hotel listed as their primary address).

If this link doesn’t work for you, please go to the main registry site here and search zip code 10024 (check the three boxes to exclude those who are currently incarcerated or in custody). 

Linda Rosenthal got back to us shortly after we reached out to her. She told us that she contacted the Department of Homeless Services and was told that these offenders would all be gone by the evening of July 27.

 UPDATE (JULY 28, 4:11PM) :

Checking the registry site on Tuesday, nothing appears to have changed, though it isn’t impossible that digital updates may require more time.

In the early afternoon of July 28, we received a response from a spokesperson for Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, who received very different information from DHS:

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“Sex offenders with ‘living restrictions’ are not housed in certain locations (i.e. around schools). If an offender is released on parole, their Parole Officer has to approve any location that DHS assigns to them. DHS is not allowed to deny housing to a sex offender unless they have living restrictions.

There are no clients with ‘living restrictions’ sheltered at The Belleclaire. Additionally, there are no clients at Hotel Lucerne with living restrictions. DHS was not able to confirm if there were residents without restrictions at The Belleclaire.”

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DHS was not able to officially confirm with Gale Brewer’s office whether or not sex offenders without living restrictions are currently living at The Belleclaire. But again, the registry lists the Belleclaire Hotel, at 2175 Broadway or 250 West 77th Street, as the current address for 14 individuals – and many of the “photo dates” are in 2020. A number of these records were last updated on July 15. The most recently updated record lists a photo date of July 23.

 UPDATE (JULY 29, 2:45PM) :

We are still waiting for the DHS to reply to us directly.

We’ve noticed that two new offenders seem to have been added to the group residing at The Belleclaire: the original count was 14 and now it is 16. According to the registry, half of these offenders committed their crimes against children who were 12 or younger.

DHS Contacts:

Issac McGinn (mcginni@dss.nyc.gov)

Arianna Fishman (fishmana@dss.nyc.gov)


Soon after the Belleclaire Hotel transitioned into a temporary shelter to house homeless people, with the goal of reducing the spread of COVID-19, several permanent senior residents in the building began voicing concerns. The primary concern was that mixing two already vulnerable populations is unsafe, and the seniors who spoke up witnessed some of the homeless residents walking around without masks.

On Monday, July 27, The Lucerne also became a temporary shelter, taking in 283 new residents. CBS News published the following video, which includes interviews with several concerned neighbors as well as Helen Rosenthal, who states “the most important thing is that people have access to the treatment that they need. These are people with mental health issues, with addiction issues.”

Upper West Side hotel shelter updates.

  

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