Peeping Tom looks in on Old Town resident

Prince George's County Police are looking for a peeping Tom who visited an area residence at an odd time last week.

A woman living in the 4500 block of Fordham Lane told police she saw a white Hispanic man, about 35 years old, outside her window about 9 a.m. Aug. 22, Maj. Robert Liberati said. The man, described as wearing a brown shirt and blue jean shorts, fled when the woman called police, he said.

Police knew of no similar incidents as of Sunday, Liberati said.

Liberati would not say whether the victim in this case was a student but said these types of crimes generally happen in the beginning of the year. Many students have to make an adjustment when moving to a densely populated area like College Park, he said.

"Prevention is worth the pound of cure," he said, adding that students and residents should "keep your blinds drawn or shades drawn when you're in the bathroom or dressing."

On the campus, peeping Tom incidents typically involve a man "spooking" a woman in the shower, University Police Capt. Marc Limansky said. Off-campus residents also faced a "cuddler" in 2008 who entered sleeping women's bedrooms, and police said over the summer that two men may have watched through a basement window as two people had sex in July.

Limansky estimated that University Police deal with one or two such cases each year. Liberati said county police, who deal with spying incidents more often, take these crimes seriously because the suspects could have a number of motives.

"It could be somebody looking inside to do a burglary," Liberati said. "It could also be somebody with perverted thoughts. They don't know."

He said anyone who sees someone looking into his or her home or around their property should call police and give as many details as possible and include the vehicle the perpetrator was driving and what direction he or she may have fled.

Some students said they usually don't keep the peeping Tom threat at the forefront of their minds.

Two thoughts occurred to senior economics major Molly Gregoire, who lives in a one-story house with five other girls near the College Park Metro station.

"Unsafe, creeped out," she said. "I don't even think about peeping Toms."

The roommates said their biggest concern was getting mugged in the street late at night. There were two strong-arm robberies in College Park this weekend.

Despite the recent peeping Tom incident and the muggings, freshman biology major Meggie Hotard said she isn't planning on allowing crime to limit her college experience.

"If you go to College Park, you have to know what you're getting into," she said.

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