Serial Creep? Peeping Tom Suspect On Staten Island May Have Been Previously Spotted In The Area
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - The alleged peeping Tom spotted in the Willowbrook section of Staten Island last month may previously been spotted in the area behaving erratically.
He was caught on surveillance video walking through a family's back yard and peering into their bedroom window.
He has yet to be caught, leaving the family disturbed and alarmed.
"I felt so violated, not knowing if this person was going to break into the house, if he was a pedophile, if he was a peeping Tom," a woman who wanted to remain anonymous told CBS2's Scott Rapoport.
Now people in the area are coming forward saying they've seen the suspect before under peculiar and unnerving circumstances.
"It's very sad. It's very scary," Vivian Henao said.
Henao says back in September, a man who she says is the same person as the peeping Tom suspect, came to her house, knocked on her door and told her she left the engine running on her blue Mercedes outside, which indeed she had.
She says at first she thought it was simply a nice gesture.
"I'm thinking 'thank you so much, that's very kind of you,'" Henao said.
But then later, she saw his disturbing behavior on her neighbor's surveillance video. It shows the man going into her car, rifling through her belongings, sitting inside her car in the dark before pedaling away on a bicycle.
Neighbors in the area say the suspect in the peeping Tom case has also been spotted riding a bicycle.
"Well, I think it's creepy," Henao said.
Folks in the area Rapoport spoke to Wednesday insist the two men on surveillance video are one in the same, and are concerned about what they call his erratic behavior, and what he might do next.
"He's been around for months. This happened to me back in September, and we're now in February, and he's still around going into people's backyards."
A police source tells CBS2 the two men are certainly very similar but can't say yet they are the same person.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) for Spanish. The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website, on Twitter @NYPDTips or by texting them to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.