‘Blinded’ them to his past
Sightless sex offender sits on board
An infamous convicted sex offender has been quietly serving on a Midtown Manhattan community board under a different name to shield his real identity, The Post has learned.
Community Board 5 member “Charles Ny” is really Charles Ghose, 42, a blind man who was convicted of molesting a 15-yearold boy in Great Britain in 2005.
He’s still listed in the New York State Sex Offender Registry and has been on the Midtown board since last year.
As a member of the board, the convicted child molester attends meetings that are held in an all-boys high school, Xavier, and gets to weigh in on issues involving schools and youth services, as well as landuse matters and liquor licenses.
His presence was only discovered after a tipster told The Post that “Ny’s” real name was Ghose — and he admitted his true identity when questioned.
Ghose — who first made headlines in the US in 2013 — portrayed himself as a victim when contacted by The Post.
“All of this happening the night before a community board election? Very suspicious, don’t you think?” he said in an email exchange Thursday.
“If you are being paid to do a hit job on me because I stand up for the community and advocate for those on welfare, Medicaid, the homeless, accessibility improvements for people with disabilities, well I think that is really sad,” he said. “The New York Post already did one story on me, how many more do you need to do?”
New moniker
He also blamed The Post’s accurate reporting on his sex-offender status for his decision to change his name.
“My name changed after the false news article by the New York Post in 2013. By the way, I had that New York Post article removed under the Right To Be Forgotten law in Europe search results,” he said.
The prior Post story reported how Ghose verbally attacked a court officer when he was required to check in with the NYPD’s Special Victims Unit at Manhattan Criminal Court.
“You should have died in 9/11 — F--k off!” he told the court officer in 2013.
This week, he sent a document saying his conviction was forgiven in England under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act.
Convicts from other states and countries are required to notify the state Division of Criminal Justice Services of their sex crimes after establishing residency here.
Ghose registered with the New York sex offender registry in 2008. He is still listed as a Level 1 sex offender, the least restrictive category. He was previously listed in the more moderate Level 2 category.
He will remain on the sex-offender registry through 2028. Even low-risk offenders must remain on the list for 20 years.
Under the law, he must continue to report to authorities. He claims he legally changed his name.
After being contacted by The Post, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine called for a probe into whether Ghose/Ny was truthful about his identity when he applied for the position, and referred the matter to the city Department of Investigation.