The home of William Albrecht in South Ozone Park, where Janet Beck said he will return once he’s released from prison in November. Forum Newsgroup photo by Ryan Lavis.
A South Ozone Park man who sexually abused his neighbor’s 13-year-old son in April 2010 is being released from prison and moving back into his home on 149th Avenue — just up the block from his victim, and across the street from Centerville Playground, according to the mother, Janet Beck.
“Me and my son are scared,” she said. “I never thought this could happen.”
One afternoon in April 2010, Janet Beck knew something was off with her 13-year-old son, Jonathan, when he came back to his South Ozone Park home after walking the dog.
She asked him what was wrong, but he could hardly form a sentence. Just a few words squeezed out of his mouth — “That Bill. It was that Bill.”
He then proceeded to tell his mother how a neighbor named William Albrecht had inappropriately touched him after trying to lure the teenager and a friend into his home.
Beck, who is an aide with the Department of Education, took her son to the police station, where they filed a report. She said that cops arrested Albrecht, who admitted to everything.
He pleaded guilty to 2nd degree course of sexual conduct with a child and was sentenced to three years in prison, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office. But with his release date pushed forward to November 11, Beck said that her son’s tormenter plans on moving back into his home.
“I just find it totally unbelievable, and everybody in the neighborhood feels the same way,” she said.
Beck, who grew up in the same house she and her son currently live in, said she has known Albrecht from childhood.
Beck has been in contact with the Queens District Attorney’s Office, but said they told her that Albrecht is legally allowed to move back into his home, despite that he is a level 2 sex offender. The Sex Offender Registration Act does not restrict where a registered sex offender may live. Some New York State laws may limit registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, but not parks.
“It totally infuriates me that he’s being allowed to move back near my son,” she said. “How are we supposed to feel comfortable in our own neighborhood now?”
Beck said that she has seen people fixing up the house recently, and neighbors in the community have also confirmed that he is moving back into his home, which rests directly in front of the park.
“He could look out the window and see the ball field,” she said. “It makes no sense whatsoever that he’s coming back here.”
Beck said her son doesn’t like to talk about the incident, and was upset when he learned that Albrecht would be released from prison.
“He don’t walk the dog anymore. I think it just brings back too many bad memories.”
By Ryan Lavis
