By Courtney Dentch
A Laurelton woman first learned she was being watched while waiting to be picked up for her birthday party as she looked out her front door and saw a man park his car and walk up 224th Street into her yard, she said.
That was four years ago, and despite window bars, motion lights, an alarm system, a camera and several police reports, her Peeping Tom still comes around two or three nights a week, said the woman, who asked not to be identified.
“It's an ongoing nightmare,” she said. “When I come in, I lock every door behind me just in case he does get inside. I'm neurotic.”
The woman bought the house near the corner of 224th Street and Merrick Boulevard about four years ago, she said. After she first saw the man walking around her backyard and looking into her windows, neighbors told her he had been there before she moved in, she said.
“If I'm watching television, I can kind of feel his presence,” she said. “You know that something's not right. I've dealt with this so much that it's gotten to the point where if I get up, I always look out the door and stay there for a few minutes to see if he's there.”
The woman has called the police, yelled at the man and thrown things at him, but the Peeping Tom, described as a black man in his mid- to late 30s, about 5-foot-10 and of medium build, will not stay away, she said.
She has also sought the help of the 224th-225th Civic Association and Councilman James Sanders (D-Laurelton), but both referred her to the 105th Precinct, she said.
“We had turned it over to the police,” said Vernel Bennett, president of the civic group. “They came to her house and she said he tried to get in the house.”
But the woman said the police cannot do much unless they see him in the act, she said.
“So much of this was reported to the police, but they just say, 'we have to catch him when he's there',” she said.
Calls to the 105th Precinct seeking comment were not returned.
The woman also has not been able to put together a good description of the man, Bennett said.
She agreed, saying that the Peeping Tom knows how to stay in the shadows.
“Because of what he's doing, you don't really see his face,” she said. “He holds his head in a certain way so you can't see his features.”
The Peeping Tom sometimes stands on the woman's 6-foot-high fence to look into her windows, which are above eye level, she said. A 3-foot section of the fence near the house broke under his weight, while a larger portion in the rear of the yard fell after he scaled it to get away, she said.
“The fence in back is broken down from him over the years,” she said. “It was a new fence when I moved in. Now it's fallen apart.”
The woman installed an alarm system when he continued to come into her yard, but even when he tripped it trying to open her windows, he still kept coming back, she said. Reluctantly, the woman spent $500 to put bars on all her windows, she said.
“After the alarm wasn't enough of a deterrent, I got the bars,” she said. “I hate bars. If there's a fire it's not safe.”
The woman also installed a small camera above her bedroom window, but she has been unable to catch the Peeping Tom in action, she said.
Now the woman is considering buying a dog or even hiring a private detective to stake out her house, she said.
Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
