Elon resident charged with peeping Tom allegation

Not linked to last year’s string of exposure incidents

by Andie Diemer

Sept. 3

An Elon resident charged with a peeping Tom incident July 19 in Myrtle Beach, S.C., is not considered a link to any previous indecent exposure or peeping Tom cases around Elon.

Director of Campus Safety and Police Chuck Gantos said Jason Lee Dunn, 29, of West Haggard Avenue, does not fit any of the descriptions or patterns of behavior from the complaints filed around campus last spring.

Dunn was arrested and charged after the father of a 12-year-old boy said he saw the suspect take a picture of his son underneath a bathroom stall at a shopping mall, according to a Horry County police report.

The boy’s father, Jon Cockerham, who had taken both of his sons into the bathroom, confronted Dunn. After Dunn denied taking the pictures, Cockerham followed him into the parking lot and called the police, according to the report.

Police confiscated Dunn’s phone, where they found a photograph of the boy in the stall.

Dunn, a first time offender, was released on $5,000 bail from J. Reuben Long Detention Center July 21, the Times-News reported.

Since the incident took place outside of Elon’s jurisdiction, Elon police are not investigating Dunn, but are assisting by providing or following up on possible leads, Gantos said.

“He was charged with taking pictures of an adolescent male, which doesn’t fit the profile of the individual that was doing indecent exposure in front of females,” Gantos said. “I don’t think that links it.”

Gantos said campus security forwarded a few leads to the local police department, where they are still being pursued.

Last spring semester, several cases were reported of a man who approached women and exposed himself or masturbated.

No more indecent exposure instances have been reported at Elon, Gantos said. He credits the publicity about the effort to find those responsible for ending the string the exposures.

“He probably either quit for a while or went somewhere else, which is not usually uncommon for someone of this character,” he said. “But I think the thing we need to be concerned about is that he’ll eventually come back, so we need to find out who he his and get him off the streets.”

Gantos said there are about 150 registered sex offenders that currently live in Alamance County, and that it is important to remember to be careful.

“These people are not just in Alamance County or North Carolina,” Gantos said. “It’s nationwide. You always have to be cautious and use good judgment and good common sense.”