Convicted Sex Offender Allegedly Raped Woman In Bar Bathroom, Living In Homeless Shelter Which Houses 13 Sexual Predators
A convicted rapist living in a homeless shelter that houses at least 12 other sex offenders has been arrested again just months after his prison release. The man has been charged with raping a woman in a local bar bathroom after spending nearly 20 years in prison for another sexual offense.
The New York Post reports that 48-year-old Rodney Stover has been arrested for attacking a woman in a bar restroom. Stover allegedly pushed his way into a woman’s restroom stall and raped a 23-year-old woman. The woman says that the man attacked her just before 8 p.m. as she entered the restroom stall.
According to the Daily Mail, the sexual predator was hiding in another stall when the young woman, a Long Island student, was grabbed by the throat and pushed into a stall. At this point the woman says the man told her he was going to rape her and that she should be quiet. He then began groping and licking her body before raping her. The woman says the man only fled when his erection would no longer last.
The woman immediately left the restroom and told her boyfriend what happened who proceeded to call the police. Stover had made a getaway until a bartender recognized the man as he walked down the street in front of the bar. She contacted police who found that Stover was a registered sex offender who had previously raped a woman.
Stover was convicted of raping and sodomizing a 42-year-old woman he did not know in 1992. As a result of the rape, Stover spent almost 20 years in prison before being released on Valentine’s Day of this year. Upon his release, Stover moved to a homeless shelter in Manhattan that is notorious for housing sexual offenders. In fact, the shelter currently houses 13 registered sex offenders including pedophiles despite being one block away from a private K-12 school for special needs students.
The New York Post points out that the Stover case has shed light on a major problem with the sex offender registry. According to a spokesperson for the Department of Homeless Services, the DHS is not required to inform police of sexual offenders living in their homes. In addition to not reporting new move-ins, the DHS does not report when registered sex offenders move out of the home either. DHS says that address reporting is done by the individual and not reported by the agency. Therefor, sexual offenders could move easily throughout the homeless shelter network without police knowing exactly where they are located.
What do you think of homeless shelters housing registered sex offenders without any needed reporting? Should the shelters be required to report when registered sex offenders move in or out of the facility?
