Residents warned of Peeping Toms

Two men may have watched a man and a woman having sex through the window of a Dickinson Avenue home early Sunday, but police said the possible Peeping Toms were not charged because there was not enough evidence they had committed a crime.

A University Police officer patrolling the 7500 block of Dickinson Avenue near Norwich Road saw two men dressed in black walking away from a house just before 2 a.m., police spokesman Paul Dillon said.

One of the men, talking on a cell phone, was walking away from the house and motioning for the other to follow, Dillon said.

The officer "noticed that where the guy came from there was a window to the basement where a guy and a girl were," Dillon said.

A resident of the house said in an interview he was having sex in the basement; Dillon would not say whether the police believed that activity was watched. Some residents of the house were students, but Dillon would not say whether the possible victims were.

Dillon said when the officer stopped the men — who had no university affiliation — they said they were leaving a house party.

The officer had no way of telling whether they had been looking through the window, so police could not charge them with any crime, Dillon said, adding that although police initially classified the incident as "peeping Tom," they later re-listed it as "suspicious activity."

Police typically send out crime alerts to the university community when they suspect a peeping Tom at large in the area, Dillon said. The most recent such alert came in February on campus regarding a Cumberland Hall ladies' room.

Also, in a March 2009 incident, police said a man climbed a ladder to look in the window of a female student in the 4900 block of Hopkins Avenue. Hopkins parallels Dickinson, one block away, in Old Town College Park.

While there have also been several muggings in Old Town this summer, Dillon said police don't believe the recent incident is connected to any past crimes.

Although there was no crime alert in this instance, police did speak to residents of the home privately about the possible peeping Tom case.

Some of the residents said they were disturbed by the event but were pleased the police were around to notice the men.

"They could have been doing anything," said one resident, who asked not to be named. "But I'm happy the cops found them."

Dillon recommended that, in general, students "have their shades drawn at night" to deter any peeping Toms.

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