Police searching for man who allegedly groped 5-year-old near New York migrant shelter

The New York Police Department Special Victims Unit is searching for a man suspected of groping a 5-year-old girl near a government-funded migrant shelter in Midtown Manhattan.

New York local news source 1010 WINS reported the girl and her mother, who have not been identified by authorities, are residents of a migrant shelter funded by the City of New York at the old Roosevelt Hotel.

A representative from the New York Police Department’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information office confirmed the investigation to Fox News Digital. The representative told Fox News Digital the incident occurred about a block away from the Roosevelt Hotel at 5th Avenue and 46th Street at about 7 p.m. Dec. 24.

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The representative declined to give any information about the identity of the suspect and did not say whether he was also a resident of the Roosevelt Hotel migrant shelter. However, according to 1010 WINS, the suspect knows the girl and her mother. 

The radio station reported that after the alleged groping, the girl was taken to Bellevue, a hospital in Manhattan.

Referred to by some as a “modern Ellis Island,” the Roosevelt Hotel was converted into a migrant shelter and processing hub by the City of New York in May 2023 amid a surge in migrants flocking to the city. The hotel has become the epicenter of much of the migrant gang activity in New York City, resulting in violence and crime reportedly spiking in the area.

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The New York Police Department has not said whether the suspect they are searching for is a member of the notorious Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua or any other gang. Tren de Aragua has had a heavy presence in the hotel’s vicinity.

On Dec. 5, a 17-year-old, Yeremi Colino, allegedly a member of the Tren de Aragua-affiliated gang “Diablos de la 42” (Devils of 42nd Street), was stabbed to death during what is believed to have been a confrontation with a rival gang. 

Another migrant, 18-year-old Alan Magalles Bello, was also stabbed alongside Colino but survived.