Man held in voyeurism incident

Police apprehended a man who may be responsible for at least three Peeping Tom incidents that took place yesterday in Hagerstown Hall bathrooms, but a spokesman said the crimes are not related to a string of recent sex crimes downtown.

Police were interviewing a man last night who they believe was visiting a friend in the dorm and spied on a female student through a hole in a shower curtain yesterday evening, said University Police Spokesman Paul Dillon.

"She noticed the shadow of an individual that was outside the shower stall," Dillon said. "Then she noticed an eye appearing in a hole in the shower curtain. She called out and the suspect fled."

About 90 minutes later, police received another call that a man was in the womens bathroom in the same dorm and had entered an unoccupied toilet stall. During their investigation last night, Dillon said police received another report of a Peeping Tom incident that occurred in the morning.

"I was just really worried," said Hillary Kistenbroker, a sophomore English major who lives on the seventh floor where last night's crimes took place. "We didn't think it would happen again, like lightning never strikes the same place twice kind of thing. Our first thought was to call the police, you just feel so helpless."

The suspect, who is not a university student, was apprehended outside the North Campus dorm shortly after the call, Dillon said.

Based on preliminary interviews, Dillon said yesterday's Peeping Tom is not the same man who sexually assaulted two women earlier this month and exposed himself to several others in a slew of incidents beginning last school year that police believe are related.

However, there have been several sexually-oriented crimes near the campus in recent weeks.

Prince George's County Police apprehended a man Monday for allegedly masturbating in a car on Knox Road. A female student said she spotted Ruben Cruz, 25, of Colmar Manor exposing himself and immediately contacted police. Officers tracked his car and he was later arrested and charged with indecent exposure.

Another Peeping Tom is thought to have raped one student and sexually assaulted another in housing off the campus. That man is still at large.

Having so many sexually related crimes in a short period of time is alarming for officers, Dillon said, but he said police are proud of the back-to-back apprehensions.

"It is concerning, but we are very happy that there were apprehensions made in both of these incidents," Dillon said.

Many Hagerstown residents were shaken by the Peeping Tom last night, prompting some to question dorm security.

"It freaks me out that it was so close to us," said Michelle Lacey, a sophomore business and music double major. "I thought mainly Route 1 is where you needed to try to be safe at night, but now it's when you are taking a shower."

But while many students found yesterday's incidents unsettling, others felt it was inevitable on such a large campus.

"There's nothing stopping random people from going into a bathroom," said Samitha Kulathunga, a sophomore physics major. "There's not locks or anything, but what are you going to do about it?"

Kistenbroker said something needs to be done because the campus crime is starting to hit students in areas that they considered safe.

"Now that it's on-campus in the dorms it has a much bigger presence," she said.

Staff writer Kristi Tousignant contributed to this report.