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A 24-year-old man was arrested after being accused of sneaking into a dorm building at Penn State University and filming women taking while they were taking showers in the public bathrooms.
Authorities said that Xinyu Li followed behind students who had access to the dorms and proceeded to the third-floor bathroom, where he recorded at least two women showering on two separate occasions.
The first woman told police that she noticed a cell phone above the top of the shower stall. When Li realized he was caught, he fled the building. A week later, another woman reported seeing a cell phone at the bottom of the stall.
Again, Li fled the building when he was discovered. Police reviewed surveillance cameras and tracked Li to a maroon pickup truck. They located the truck at a nearby apartment complex. They ran the plates, which were registered to Comet Tech, Inc. Investigators Googled the company and learned that Xinyu Li was listed as the company's "founder and president."
He was taken into custody and admitted to filming the women in the shower, but claimed he deleted the videos. However, an investigator examined his phone and found five videos of women showering in the dorm room bathrooms hidden in an app designed to look like a calculator.
Li was charged with two counts of criminal trespassing and two counts of invasion of privacy by viewing or photographing a person without consent.
"[W]e are grateful that University Police and Public Safety was able to identify the person believed to be responsible for these disturbing incidents," Penn State Spokeswoman Jacqueline Sheader told StateCollege.com. "UPPS, alongside numerous other departments and partners, work hard to develop and nurture the safest possible environment and to provide security services for students, faculty, staff, and visitors. UPPS reminds the community that following critical safety protocols — such as not permitting unknown individuals access to residence halls — are important to help to keep our campus safe."