WSC student accused of sexual voyeurism in Bowen Hall
February 6, 2019
A Wayne State male freshman was accused of allegedly filming a female student showering in the women’s bathroom on the seventh floor of Bowen Hall on Saturday, Jan. 26 at 10:20 a.m. The incident was immediately reported to WSC Campus Security. At least four other students shared similar stories with the alleged victim and subsequently emailed the Assistant Dean of Students and Title IX Coordinator, David McMahan.
As a result of the allegations, the male student was banned from entering Bowen Hall. The Wayne Police Department is actively investigating the incident. The male student remains free to reside on campus and attend classes.
All of the alleged victims have similar stories, but only the victim on Jan. 26 caught the male student in action filming her over the top of her shower stall.
“I had only been showering for about three minutes before I heard the shower next to me turn on, which of course I thought another woman had started taking a shower next to me,” the alleged victim said. “At this point there was also a hair dryer being used in the bathroom. As I was showering I could see shadows passing by, which was odd because the door was closed and there should not have been shadows passing by.”
At that point, the victim felt uneasy and began to check her surroundings.
“After two times of the shadows passing by I became a little worried and felt as if there was a presence watching me,” the victim said. “I turned around in my shower and saw a black thing in the air, I quickly opened the shower curtain and revealed that there was a man standing in the shower next to me. He was standing up on the bench in the other shower, had both of his arms over the stall recording me, or taking pictures of me, and was not wearing a shirt while I was completely bare in the shower.”
The victim has reason to believe the male student had filmed other female students earlier in the week due to similar allegations made by those same students.
“My friend and I have been turning off the showers on the seventh floor of Bowen for the past two weeks,” the victim said. “Someone was turning them on and then leaving the door open and not turning them off, which immediately made me think, ‘Wow he is doing this to other girls as well.’”
After reporting her story to authorities, the victim began sharing her story on Snapchat and Facebook, warning women in Bowen to be careful.
According to Campus Security Manager Jason Mrsny, the Wayne police officer in charge of looking into the matter indicated he is close to completing his investigation.
The Wayne Police Department refused to comment on the incident due to the open investigation.