Senator Phillips Joins Parents, School And Community Leaders To Demand Governor Release Names Of Pardoned Felons

Senator Elaine Phillips joined today with parents, community and school leaders to demand the names of 24,086 felons, including hundreds and possibly thousands of convicted sex offenders who could turn up in schools this fall to vote after receiving pardons from Gov. Cuomo.

Nearly two dozen sex offenders from Nassau County have been found to have received pardons that could allow them to vote in schools. But the Governor hasn’t released a full list.

“The list of known sex offenders, some with long records and multiple child victims, who received pardons from the Governor grows every day, and parents have a right to know who is on that list, and who could be showing up in their children’s school to vote next Fall,” Senator Phillips said. “We need to know what crimes they have committed, what risk they pose to the community, and what information and assistance the state is providing to schools to keep them away from our children.”

“It’s just common sense to prevent convicted sex offenders who targeted children from having unaccompanied access to the very population they targeted in the first place,” said Laura Ahearn, founder and executive director of Long Island-based Parents for Megan’s Law, a group that has fought for more than 20 years to create and strengthen the state’s mandatory registry for sex offenders.

“Megan’s Law and the state’s Sex Offender Registry are positive proof that information is a powerful tool to help protect children from danger, and parents need to know that state government is not creating new risks as a result of these actions.”

Senator Phillips also announced that she has created a petition on her website—phillips.nysenate.gov—urging the Governor to keep sex predators out of schools on Election Day.

While Gov. Cuomo has not released a list of felons who received pardons, limited information on the felons can be found by crosschecking the state’s online Megan’s Law registry with a database of parolees. So far, Senator Phillips was able to identify hundreds of sex offenders with pardons in just a few communities across the state, including at least 20 from our area.

Further checking found 77  sex offenders currently housed in two secure facilities in Upstate Marcy and Ogdensburg, on the Canadian border, that specialize in trying to treat the highest risk, hard-to-cure offenders. These offenders include 17 rapists and account for at least 88 child victims, some as young as two years old.

These offenders, who come from all across the state, cannot leave the secure grounds, so it is not clear how they would even be able to vote based on the Governor’s pardon.

Senator Phillips is calling on the Governor to:

• Release the full list of names of 24,086 pardoned felons, including the crimes committed, sentences and current addresses;
• Provide notification to schools  and law enforcement in local communities where the felons currently live, and
• Detail steps the state is planning to take to make sure that convicted sex offenders do not vote in schools where young, vulnerable students are present. 

Senator Phillips is also urging parents to check the state’s online Sex Offender Registry to locate convicted sex offenders in our neighborhoods. Free searches can be performed by last name, county or ZIP code, and include a current photo and information about offenders, including their crime, sentence and special conditions that apply. The registry can be found at: http://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/SomsSUBDirectory/search_index.jsp or by using links on her website, phillips.nysenate.gov .

Senator Phillips has shared information about pardoned sex offenders she has discovered in her district with local law enforcement.