An Upper West Side building superintendent classified as a high-risk sex offender after pleading guilty to raping and sodomizing children has been accused of offering to help female tenants pay their rent in exchange for sex. Residents of three buildings maintained by William Barnason say they are horrified that the 57-year-old—who served more than 14 years in prison for attacks against kids as young as five years old—has access to the their apartments. And they're also scared by the high-risk sex offender's purportedly creepy behavior.
According to the Post, Barnason allegedly told 43-year-old tenant Carol Engle that he could pay for the deposit on her apartment if "we were friends." She told the tabloid: "I said, 'You mean if I had sex with you? That's what you're trying to say?' And he said, 'Yes and ... not just once. I'd come over a couple of times a week, and I could help you out.'" She turned him down. "It seemed so unbelievable that someone would allow a registered sex offender—Level 3, a rapist—would allow them to have keys," said Engle, who apparently has stopped paying rent because she said she was being overcharged and is about to be evicted. "Just a total disregard for the safety and well-being of people."
A 22-year-old tenant who is fighting eviction in Manhattan Housing Court cited Barnason's alleged harassment and his criminal past—which includes a 1987 guilty plea for raping, sodomizing and sexually-abusing three Long Island girls ages 5 and 7 and forcing other children to watch. "Multiple times, he said, 'If you want to hook up once or twice a week, I can pay your rent, and I can get you a bigger apartment,'" she said. "I said, 'F- - - off.'"
A lawyer representing the landlord who employees Barnason at 144 W. 73rd St., 140 W. 75th St, and 142 W. 75th St. said the building owner denies the allegations against his superintendent. He said the landlord only recently found out about Barnason's criminal past, and noted that there are no plans to fire him. For his part, Barnason told reporters: "I got nothing to say to you."
