{
  "id": "2025-01-23-uc-santa-cruz-john-r-lewis-college-bathroom-burglaries",
  "slug": "uc-santa-cruz-john-r-lewis-college-bathroom-burglaries-2025-01-23",
  "institution": {
    "name": "University of California, Santa Cruz",
    "shortName": "UC Santa Cruz",
    "state": "CA",
    "type": "public-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "Timely Warning Crime Bulletin",
    "enrollment": 19500
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2025-01-23",
    "endDate": "2025-03-04",
    "type": "burglary",
    "cleryCategory": "timely-warning",
    "headline": "Clothing and Phones Stolen From Communal Showers Turned Out to Be Linked to a Voyeur Targeting UCSC Dorms",
    "summary": "Starting [January 23, 2025, students showering in the fourth-floor communal bathroom of Ohlone House at John R. Lewis College](https://lookout.co/uc-santa-cruz-investigates-voyeurism-burglary-reports-in-campus-residential-buildings/story) 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](https://kion546.com/news/2025/03/07/ucsc-investigates-reports-of-privacy-invasion-and-burglary-within-campus-housing/) in the same residential buildings, and in June [arrested former student Tony Pau, 21, on burglary, grand theft, and voyeurism charges](https://lookout.co/uc-santa-cruz-police-announce-arrest-of-suspect-in-on-campus-peeping-tom-cases/story).",
    "resolution": "confirmed-threat",
    "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.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 0
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "On or shortly after January 23, 2025, once UCSC Police received the first report of stolen clothing from the Ohlone House communal bathroom",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "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.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceUrl": "https://news.ucsc.edu/2025/03/timely-crime-bulletin/",
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from UCSC News's March 2025 Timely Warning Crime Bulletin and Lookout Santa Cruz's reporting connecting it to the January 23 report",
      "annotations": [
        "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"
      ],
      "characterCount": 511
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "update",
      "timestampApprox": "On or shortly after February 11, 2025, after a second, similar report of stolen clothing and belongings in the same residential cluster",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "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.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceUrl": "https://news.ucsc.edu/2025/03/timely-crime-bulletin/",
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from UCSC News's Timely Warning Crime Bulletin describing the February 11 follow-up report",
      "annotations": [
        "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"
      ],
      "characterCount": 513
    },
    {
      "sequence": 3,
      "type": "follow-up",
      "timestampApprox": "Between March 4 and March 7, 2025, after UCSC Police and the Title IX Office identified a possible link between the burglary reports and newly reported voyeurism incidents",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "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.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceUrl": "https://news.ucsc.edu/2025/03/timely-crime-bulletin/",
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from UCSC News's official Timely Warning Crime Bulletin and KION546's coverage of the same bulletin",
      "annotations": [
        "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"
      ],
      "characterCount": 643
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Timely Warning Crime Bulletin: Burglary",
      "url": "https://news.ucsc.edu/2025/03/timely-crime-bulletin/",
      "type": "official-archive"
    },
    {
      "title": "UCSC investigating reports of voyeurism, burglary in campus residential buildings",
      "url": "https://lookout.co/uc-santa-cruz-investigates-voyeurism-burglary-reports-in-campus-residential-buildings/story",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "UCSC investigates reports of privacy invasion and burglary within campus housing",
      "url": "https://kion546.com/news/2025/03/07/ucsc-investigates-reports-of-privacy-invasion-and-burglary-within-campus-housing/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Former student arrested in on-campus 'peeping tom' cases, UCSC police say",
      "url": "https://lookout.co/uc-santa-cruz-police-announce-arrest-of-suspect-in-on-campus-peeping-tom-cases/story",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "UCSC 'peeping tom' suspect had history of similar crimes, court records show",
      "url": "https://lookout.co/ucsc-peeping-tom-suspect-had-history-of-similar-crimes-court-records-show/story",
      "type": "local-media"
    }
  ],
  "context": "[UC Santa Cruz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_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](https://lookout.co/uc-santa-cruz-investigates-voyeurism-burglary-reports-in-campus-residential-buildings/story) 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](https://kion546.com/news/2025/03/07/ucsc-investigates-reports-of-privacy-invasion-and-burglary-within-campus-housing/) 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](https://lookout.co/uc-santa-cruz-police-announce-arrest-of-suspect-in-on-campus-peeping-tom-cases/story), charging him with burglary, grand theft, and four counts of voyeurism. Lookout Santa Cruz's [subsequent reporting on Pau's court history](https://lookout.co/ucsc-peeping-tom-suspect-had-history-of-similar-crimes-court-records-show/story) 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.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "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"
  ],
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "burglary",
    "voyeurism",
    "residence-hall",
    "communal-bathroom",
    "serial-incidents",
    "california",
    "public-r1",
    "2020s",
    "suspect-arrested",
    "title-ix"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-07-03",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-03",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}