NY Times concedes gushing story about NYC Hoodwill street vendor shouldve noted hes a high-risk sex offender
A 35-year-old man glowingly profiled in a New York Times piece last month for being part of a longtime illegal street market that hawks donated goods in Downtown Brooklyn is a registered high-risk sex offender with a long rap sheet, The Post has learned.Tyshawn Kennedy is part of a rogue vending operation — nicknamed “Hoodwill” — that has been openly siphoning business from thrift-chain Goodwill’s shop at the corner of Bond and Schermerhorn streets for more than a decade, according to neighborhood leaders and other eyewitnesses.Good Samaritans arriving to drop off bags of clothing, shoes and other items are routinely duped curbside by Kennedy and other crew members into thinking they’re affiliated with Goodwill.The Hoodwill hawkers usually sell the donated goods out of the bags they’re brought in along the public sidewalk — and then litter the bustling walkway almost daily with remaining bags of unsold goods.The Times piece, published Aug.4, all but glorified Kennedy and his cohorts. It focused on obstacles making it difficult to get street vendor licenses in NYC and quoted shoppers who prefer Hoodwill over Goodwill because its sellers offer cheaper prices – and are “working-class guys trying to make it.”However, the article failed to mention that Kennedy in 2015 was sentenced to two years in prison and forced to register as a “Level 3” sex offender in New York after being convicted of second-degree attempted rape of a minor.The April 2014 incident involved “sexual contact” between Kennedy, then 23, and a 14-year-old girl, records show.The Times report also failed to note Kennedy was arrested in 2021 by cops in Bayonne, NJ, for shoplifting – and allegedly kicked a police officer before getting pepper sprayed. He was slapped with assualt and other charges, The Jersey Journal reported.Instead, The Times merely mentioned Kennedy spent some time in and out of jail since he was 18 without being specific and sympathetically quoted him c...