A sex offender was busted Tuesday after he allegedly groped a 14-year-old girl — and tried to grind on her — in plain view of cops, police sources told The Post.
Jesus Ayala, 64, allegedly preyed on the young girl aboard a northbound No. 1 train between 59th Street and 66th Street at about 3:45 p.m., cops said.
Cops say he put his hands on her thighs and tried to rub against her body before NYPD transit officers stepped in and arrested him as the teenager was trying to get away.
They brought Ayala — a registered sex offender who is on parole — to a police station in the Columbus Circle train station, where he admitted to the crime, police sources said.
“He actually confessed,” a police source told The Post.
Ayala, who is from Connecticut, was hit with sexual abuse and acting in a manner injurious to a child charges, cops said.
Keeping sex offenders off the subway is a constant struggle for the NYPD because the most common subway sex crimes — including forcible touching, persistent sexual abuse and public lewdness — are misdemeanors that carry little or no jail time for creeps, leaving them free to strike again.