Campus Alert Archive
UC Santa Cruz

Clothing and Phones Stolen From Communal Showers Turned Out to Be Linked to a Voyeur Targeting UCSC Dorms

AI-generated · every claim is source-linked
CAburglarytimely warningmedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

Starting January 23, 2025, students showering in the fourth-floor communal bathroom of Ohlone House at John R. Lewis College began reporting that their clothing, undergarments, and a cellphone had been stolen while they bathed; a second wave of similar thefts followed on February 11. UC Santa Cruz police and the Title IX office later connected the burglaries to a string of voyeurism reports in the same residential buildings, and in June arrested former student Tony Pau, 21, on burglary, grand theft, and voyeurism charges.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
University of California, Santa Cruz
Public R1 · CA
~19,500 studentsTimely Warning Crime Bulletin
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from UCSC News's March 2025 Timely Warning Crime Bulletin and Lookout Santa Cruz's reporting connecting it to the January 23 report511 chars
TIMELY WARNING CRIME BULLETIN: BURGLARY. UC Santa Cruz Police Department received a report that on January 23, 2025, a student's clothing, undergarments, and cell phone were taken while the student showered in the fourth-floor communal bathroom of Ohlone House, John R. Lewis College. There is no suspect description at this time. Students are encouraged to keep personal belongings within sight while using communal bathroom facilities and to report any suspicious activity to UCPD immediately at 831-459-2231.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Lookout Santa Cruz reported that police later determined the burglary reports from John R. Lewis College bathrooms dated back to January 23, 2025, before the pattern was publicly connected to voyeurism
Ohlone House is one of the residential buildings within John R. Lewis College, a UCSC residential college with communal bathroom facilities shared by an entire floor
At the time of this initial report, investigators treated the theft of clothing and a cellphone as a standalone burglary rather than part of a larger pattern
UPDATEEmail
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from UCSC News's Timely Warning Crime Bulletin describing the February 11 follow-up report513 chars
TIMELY WARNING CRIME BULLETIN UPDATE: BURGLARY. UC Santa Cruz Police Department has received a second report of a burglary from a communal bathroom involving a John R. Lewis College student's clothing and belongings, occurring on February 11, 2025. Investigators are working to determine whether this incident is related to the January 23 report from Ohlone House. There is no suspect description at this time. Anyone with information should contact UCPD at 831-459-2231 or the anonymous tip line at 831-459-3847.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The February 11 report, occurring roughly three weeks after the first, established the pattern as a possible series rather than an isolated incident
Both burglary reports involved students' clothing and personal items taken while the students were showering, a distinctive method that would later prove significant once linked to voyeurism reports
UCSC's Timely Warning bulletins for this case were issued retrospectively in March 2025, after the pattern's scope became clearer, rather than immediately after each individual report
FOLLOW-UPEmail
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from UCSC News's official Timely Warning Crime Bulletin and KION546's coverage of the same bulletin643 chars
TIMELY WARNING CRIME BULLETIN: VOYEURISM AND BURGLARY. UC Santa Cruz Police Department and the Title IX Office are investigating three reports of voyeurism, violations of California Penal Code 647(j)(3), that occurred between February 22 and March 4, 2025, in Stevenson College Building 2 and John R. Lewis College. In each case, the reporting student saw a cell phone that may have been used to photograph or record them while they were showering. Investigators believe these incidents may be connected to the burglary reports from John R. Lewis College bathrooms dating back to January 23, 2025. There is no suspect description at this time.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

KION546 reported UCSC Police and Title IX became aware on March 4, 2025 of three voyeurism reports spanning February 22 to March 4, in Stevenson College Building 2 and John R. Lewis College, and explicitly linked them to the earlier burglary pattern
The expansion from a two-building burglary series to a three-building voyeurism-and-burglary investigation reflects how Clery Act timely warnings can be updated as investigators connect previously separate reports
Lookout Santa Cruz's later reporting confirmed the connection was correct: arrested suspect Tony Pau was ultimately charged with both the voyeurism counts and one count each of burglary and grand theft tied to the earlier bathroom thefts
Context

Background

UC Santa Cruz houses undergraduates in residential colleges built around communal, floor-shared bathroom facilities, including John R. Lewis College's Ohlone House. Beginning January 23, 2025, students showering in Ohlone House's fourth-floor communal bathroom reported clothing, undergarments, and a cellphone stolen while they bathed; a second, similar report followed on February 11. What initially read as a routine burglary pattern took on a different character in early March 2025, when UCSC Police and the Title IX Office disclosed three additional reports of voyeurism in Stevenson College and John R. Lewis College between February 22 and March 4, in which students saw a cellphone that may have been used to record them while showering, and explicitly connected those reports back to the earlier bathroom burglaries. In June 2025, UCSC police arrested Tony Pau, 21, a recent UCSC graduate, charging him with burglary, grand theft, and four counts of voyeurism. Lookout Santa Cruz's subsequent reporting on Pau's court history found he had pleaded guilty to similar conduct at an on-campus residence roughly two years before his June 2025 arrest, raising questions about whether earlier discipline or law enforcement contact should have flagged the risk sooner. The case is a rare instance in the archive of a Clery burglary series that investigators later determined was the leading edge of a much more serious, sustained campus safety threat.
Analysis

Key Findings

A burglary series targeting students' clothing and belongings while they showered in communal bathrooms began January 23, 2025 at John R. Lewis College's Ohlone House and continued with a second report on February 11
UCSC Police and the Title IX Office publicly connected the burglary reports to three separate voyeurism reports in early March 2025, spanning Stevenson College and John R. Lewis College
Former UCSC student Tony Pau, 21, was arrested in June 2025 and charged with burglary, grand theft, and four counts of voyeurism, tying the property-crime and privacy-invasion threads together
Court records showed Pau had previously pleaded guilty to similar conduct at an on-campus residence roughly two years before this arrest, suggesting a recurring individual threat rather than an isolated incident
The case illustrates how what begins as a low-severity Clery burglary alert can later be revealed as connected to a more serious, ongoing offense once investigators link previously separate reports
Outcome
UC Santa Cruz police arrested Tony Pau, 21, of Daly City, a recent UCSC graduate, on June 12, 2025, charging him with one count of burglary, one count of grand theft, and four counts of violating California's voyeurism statute. Court records showed Pau had previously pleaded guilty to similar conduct at an on-campus residence roughly two years earlier.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
    Timely Warning Crime Bulletin: Burglary
    news.ucsc.edu
    archived copy
  2. News
    UCSC investigating reports of voyeurism, burglary in campus residential buildings
    lookout.co
    archived copy
  3. News
    UCSC investigates reports of privacy invasion and burglary within campus housing
    kion546.com
    archived copy
  4. News
    Former student arrested in on-campus 'peeping tom' cases, UCSC police say
    lookout.co
    archived copy
  5. News
    UCSC 'peeping tom' suspect had history of similar crimes, court records show
    lookout.co
    archived copy
Cite this case

Campus Alert Archive. "University of California, Santa Cruz: Clothing and Phones Stolen From Communal Showers Turned Out to Be Linked to a Voyeur Targeting UCSC Dorms." Incident of January 23, 2025. Added July 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/uc-santa-cruz-john-r-lewis-college-bathroom-burglaries-2025-01-23/

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Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.

Tags
burglaryvoyeurismresidence-hallcommunal-bathroomserial-incidentscaliforniapublic-r12020ssuspect-arrestedtitle-ix
Added July 2026Updated July 2026Via ingestion