BUPD reports 5th "Peeping Tom" incident in CAS this year

A Boston University student reported a man allegedly watching her use a third-floor public restroom in the College of Arts and Sciences last week, BU Police Department officials said.

The student said this incident, which happened on June 19, was the third time she has caught the same man watching her in a CAS bathroom, though she did not report those previous incidents, BUPD spokesman Sgt. Jack St. Hilaire said.

“The same person said this happened to her three times,” St. Hilaire said. “She was in a stall, he went into the next stall, looked in and then fled.”

The student described the suspect as a 5 feet 8 inches tall white man in his 30s with dark colored eyes and dark, thinning hair on the sides of his head, according to the BUPD website. He was bald on top and had “very hairy arms.”

BUPD has since tracked down another student who reported a similar-looking man watching her in a CAS bathroom on May 6, St. Hilaire said.

CAS has been the site of five “Peeping Tom” incidents since January. Besides the four incidents involving the same suspect, a BU graduate student reported that on Jan. 20, a black, 5 feet 7 inches tall male who appeared to be about 30 years old was watching her in a first-floor CAS bathroom.

St. Hilaire said although the same student reported the same man watching her on three separate occasions, these incidents are still “crimes of opportunity.”

“He’s obviously not following her, targeting her,” St. Hilaire said. “It’s an open building. He just walks in and waits to see if there’s no one around. It’s happening in the same stretch.”

BUPD has since increased foot patrol in CAS, though St. Hilaire could not say by what percentage BUPD’s presence has increased. He said BUPD has issued a composite of the man who is suspected in four of the five incidents, and that is the man BUPD is interested in pursuing.

St. Hilaire said anyone with information on the possible suspect should call the BUPD detective line at 617-353-3436.