A 40-year-old man has been arrested on the campus of Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, on charges of secret peeping and first-degree trespassing.
A spokeswoman for Shaw University said that the man was seen looking in a ground floor window of the lobby. The dorms were not full of students, as graduation had already happened and the students had moved out of the dorms. The spokeswoman said that the man was not looking into a room, but in to the lobby. He was located by campus police and arrested. The man was taken to Wake County Detention Center.
According to North Carolina law, secret peeping is a Class 1 misdemeanor if a person peeps secretly into any room occupied by another person. The charge is a Class 1 felony if the purpose of the peeping is to photograph another person for sexual gratification. There are many other elements to secret peeping that will affect whether the charge is a misdemeanor or a felony. The university did not say whether the man is charged with a felony or a misdemeanor. Secret peeping was passed in 2003 and in some cases, a conviction can require registration on the sex offender registry.
If you are facing charges for the crime of secret peeping, you should know that this crime is not always charged as a sex crime. Your attorney can help you determine what type of charge you are facing, so you can begin to build a defense against the charges. The prosecution must prove all of the elements of the crime that you are charged with in order to obtain a conviction.
Source: cb17.com, “Raleigh man arrested on Shaw University’s campus, charged with peeping,” May 09, 2016