Peeping Tom caught on camera intimidates New Hanover County neighborhood
NEW HANOVER COUNTY (WWAY) — Sunday, April 3rd like any other night in Magnolia Trace. Mallory Cooper sat with her dog watching TV, while her boyfriend, Chase made dinner near the sliding glass door.
Their dog had been antsy for several minutes, and then the couple’s video doorbell sensor went off. Chase began checking the home’s entrances. When he got to the back porch, he found a chair facing their kitchen and living room. A pillow was used to prop open the screen porch door, and a ladder was outside their fence. Their sliding glass door had been opened by someone.
“So we realized that this guy has gradual steps to get more and more comfortable,” Chase said.
Cooper continued, “Someone isn’t comfy enough the first time, to just come on to someone’s patio and just sit there and open their door. He had to have been doing these things for awhile.”
One of just a few videos captured shows the alleged peeping Tom running away from the couple’s home. Since then, other neighbors have noticed signs of someone near their back doors.
“We’ve had a few neighbors have separate different events. The first two were both single women. One person had their patio screen slashed, the other person had their circuit breakers flipped,” Chase remembered.
Neighbors reported someone loosening flood lights to keep them from turning on at night.
“We also have a fan in the patio that has a light connected to it as well,” said Cooper. “And he was pulling people’s lights in the patio so that neither of these lights would go on.”
Wilmington Police are still investigating. In the mean time, the Coopers are encouraging neighbors to close their blinds, lock their doors, and put a wooden dowel in their sliding glass doors to keep them from opening.
“Everyone wants their own privacy, their own rights to enjoy themselves in the privacy of their own home,” said Chase. “They get your doors open, and people come into your backyard without your knowledge, staging property to watch you, it just feels uncomfortable to live in your own home.”
Neighbors said the past couple days they’ve taken more precautions, and haven’t seen any sign of the alleged peeping Tom since last week’s events.
