A small group of Midtown Atlanta women are taking action against a man they say has terrorized their neighborhood for years.
Sidney, a resident on Myrtle Street, caught the "Peeping Tom" on a Ring camera video looking into her apartment twice in one week and is now leading the charge against him.
“I’m watching him live,” she explained. “I call 911 -- see him staring into my bedroom window while I’m on the phone with 911.”
Sidney said she was very scared, and noticed that the man had peered into every window in her house.
“I’m debating sleeping in my bathtub because that’s the only room in my house without windows. He’s looked through every single one of my windows for an extended period of time,” Sidney said.
She then expressed her disappointment with the officer from when she called 911 on Jan. 21.
"They didn’t ask for the video, they didn’t ask for pictures, screenshots or anything," Sidney said. "I don’t feel the cops are going to care until it’s game over, and I don’t want to be that person."
Three days later, she noticed the same man looking into her apartment and then decided to post to her story on social media and hang up nearly 100 flyers of the man's face around her neighborhood.
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“I took screenshots of a couple different angles of his face and put them on flyers. Most say if you see this man call 911 immediately,” Sideny said.
There are police reports that date back to 2019 regarding a "Peeping Tom" on Myrtle Street. Residents told CBS46 that the man has been looking into women's houses since even before then.
Residents at Sidney's apartment building said there have been an estimated seven incident reports to police since July of 2021.
The Midtown Neighbors' Association said in a statement to CBS46 that police are boosting their presence in response to the residents' reports.
“It is important for residents to call 911 when they see him and provide a real-time detailed description. Often with prowling cases, the suspect may appear frequently but leaves the location quickly. Zone 5 APD has committed an additional beat officer to respond immediately to these calls. They are taking it seriously but need our community’s reporting assistance.”
Atlanta attorney Titus Nichols encouraged residents to continue to make official reports of the man, and added that it would help authorities if they had a name of the suspect. The perpetrator must be caught in the act or authorities must determine "intent" from the suspect to arrest them.
"If there’s four different women, there’s four different charges against him and he can go to prison for up to five years for each individual charge," Nichols said.
"A lot of times they don't know who that person is, so police can't utilize resources," Nichols said.
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