By Serena Solomon
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MIDTOWN — A federal law that would prevent sex offenders doubling as building superintendents or managers was proposed on Sunday by Sen. Chuck Schumer.
The bill would ban convicted sex offenders from being superintendents or manager in apartment buildings throughout New York and across the country.
"The fact that these sex offenders have access to apartments where there are children present is beyond scary," Schumer said, according to news reports. "We must take immediate action to stop it."
Convicted sex offender William Barnason was the superintendent of several buildings on the Upper West Side holding the keys to about 50 units, the New York Post reported earlier this month. Some of the tenants accused Barnason of requesting sex in exchange for assistance with their rent.
The 57-year-old super had spent more than 14 years in prison for raping, sexually assaulting and sodomizing girls as young as 5 years old, according to reports. The Senator announced the bill outside one of the buildings where Barnason worked.
