Under public pressure, Pleasant Night Inn owners bar sex offenders from West Carthage hotel
Jun. 19—WEST CARTHAGE — The owners of the Pleasant Night Inn have said they no longer wish to house registered sex offenders.
In a letter to the Jefferson County Department of Social Services, to which the Inn provides rooms for the housing of people in its emergency housing programs, owner Pratesh R. Patel requested that no registered sex offenders be placed in the hotel.
"As of July 18, 2022 we have amended our hotel policy to no longer accept registered sex offenders at our location," Mr. Patel said in the letter. "We would also ask that any client of yours that has a violent or disruptive history no longer be placed at our hotel."
Mr. Patel said this policy has been shared with the Lewis County Department of Social Services, the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, and the village of West Carthage.
The hotel has come under scrutiny lately, after Elvin B. Nieves, a 30-year-old man who was apparently placed at the Pleasant Night Inn through DSS's emergency housing program, was charged with exposing himself and masturbating in full view of two children at a nearby park on June 11. Mr. Nieves was arrested, released and police say he then harassed West Carthage Mayor Scott M. Burto and his wife at their home that day. Mr. Nieves has been arrested —before and after the incident in West Carthage — a number of times for similar incidents, but has not been formally convicted of any crime from those charges. He is not a registered sex offender, although he would become one if convicted on the charges from the West Carthage incident.
Other residents of the motel, all seemingly placed by DSS and listing the hotel as their residence, have been charged with sex offenses before placement or while living at the hotel.
Village and town of Champion officials have approached the Jefferson County Legislature requesting a policy change to specifically end violent or sexual criminals from being placed at the Pleasant Night Inn, and have more widely called for the county to find an alternative to the hotel and motel-reliant emergency housing program it currently employs.
In an interview last week, Mayor Burto had said that he was growing frustrated with the length of time it was taking for the county to come up with a solution. The mayor approached the county Legislature on Tuesday, along with Champion town Councilman Matthew T. Gump, with legislation that would have stopped DSS's placement of sex offenders at the hotel.
"The unfortunate thing is, after they again refused to help us, two major incidents happened, and now we have victims of a sexual offense dealing with it," he said.
On Sunday, Mayor Burto said he was happy to see the owner implement their own policy barring sex offenders from the hotel, after public pressure and even a small protest outside the hotel itself.
"I am very happy," he said. "With the help of the West Carthage police, the public support and protesters we were able to work with the owner yesterday to implement changes."
Mr. Burto said he will continue his pressure on the county Board of Legislators to ensure the county honors Mr. Patel's new policy.
"We must also make sure they keep their commitment to a background check, any open cases that have not yet went to court and other violent crimes be considered a red flag and not placed at the Pleasant Night Inn," he said.
