Suspected Peeping Tom caught videotaping in Des Moines library restroom

Police have arrested a suspected Peeping Tom accused of trying to secretly record video of women in the restroom at the Des Moines Library.

Tracy Pigg called 911 Thursday after spotting a cell phone camera pointed into the restroom stall, said Sgt. Doug Jenkins.

“He could stand the camera up between the back wall of the restroom and the partition wall of the restroom stall and just set the camera on there with the lens pointing into the next stall,” he said.

Pigg swatted the phone, contacted a library employee and called 911.

“I felt that something was not right and before I left I looked around. A disgusting man was in the next stall over with his phone through the crack next to the wall, video taping everyone that came in,” she wrote on her Facebook page.

While she was on the phone with police, the suspect came out of the bathroom wearing women’s clothes and carrying a black “messenger” type bag. He fled the library on foot.

Two local residents told arriving officers they’d spotted a man running who stopped, took off a skirt he put into a black bag, then continued running.

Officers found the man hiding under a travel trailer parked at a nearby home. Pigg and the two witnesses both identified him.

Police recovered a cell phone at the scene but did not find the black bag. Detectives are seeking a search warrant to examine the recordings on the phone.

Jenkins says investigators are looking into whether the suspect could be connected to two similar incidents at the library in the past two years, and are checking with other law enforcement agencies to see if the suspect has been involved in any other incidents.

“If he’s doing it here, he’s obviously going to be doing it somewhere else. My guess is this isn’t the first time that he’s done this,” he says.

The suspect is a 40-year-old Hispanic male with a Seattle address. He was transferred to the King County Jail in Seattle and is awaiting possible charges.