'Extreme risk' serial peeping tom posts $300K bond, out of jail again
Serial peeping tom released from jail
A man accused of looking into strangers' windows near the University of Minnesota campus has been released from jail after being charged. FOX 9's Mike Manzoni looks into his extensive criminal record.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A man prosecutors call an "extreme risk" to public safety is out of jail again after posting bond in another peeping case.
Bond posted after Monday arrest
Couldn't keep in jail:
John Searle posted a $300,000 bond Thursday night and got out of jail. Prosecutors pointed to his lengthy criminal record as the reason for the "substantial bail" and said he is an "extreme risk" to public safety.
What police said happened:
Prosecutors said Searle looked into strangers’ windows in Minneapolis’ Como neighborhood, not far from the University of Minnesota, at least three times in recent months. On July 10, investigators said he "crouched by a basement window" before taking off after one of the three victims scared him, and prosecutors said it happened again less than a week later.
Police arrested Searle on Monday after they said they caught him doing it yet again.
"It’s really surprising. It’s really disappointing. It’s really unsettling," said Emily Welte, a University of Minnesota junior.
Long record in Minneapolis and St. Paul
Multiple cases over 30 years:
Searle’s encounters with law enforcement go back more than 30 years, to 1995, when he first faced charges for interfering with privacy, stalking and lurking.
Past efforts and earlier cases:
Court records show an effort in 2009 to have him civilly committed on the grounds that he was sexually dangerous or had a psychopathic personality was dismissed. FOX 9 last covered Searle in 2015 after prosecutors said he recorded young women in their homes near the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.
Prosecutors said they are also investigating Searle for similar reports from the last two years around Como, Marcy-Holmes and the University of Minnesota.
"That’s insane. It’s really unsafe and really unsettling knowing this, especially with how it is a college town and there are a lot of young students, freshly 18 students," said Welte. "There are PSEO high school students here. It’s just creepy."
What's next:
Searle is due back in court for a hearing on Dec. 2.