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Athens peeping Tom may have unknown victims

Police say the man arrested for peeping in on UGA sororities may have some unknown victims, after recovering a stash of women’s clothing and underwear that has yet to be claimed.

A detective pored over images and videos in 30-year-old Patrick McElroy's camera, finding they had been taken at night through the slats of window blinds.

A 19-year-old UGA student who recently met with Athens Clarke County Police recognized her own face in videos on Patrick McElroy's camera, seeing herself dressing in her bedroom and bathroom.

Police spokesman Epifanio Rodriguez says the amount of women's clothing and underwear McElroy allegedly stole sends up red flags.

“For the most part, women’s undergarments are not of value for resale,” Rodriguez tells WSB. “That’s concerning to us that he possibly was on a track of escalating the crime that he was already committing.”

First arrested in late September after a neighbor spotted a man lurking outside the window of a house where a sorority's members lived, McElroy now faces 10 peeping Tom charges, 16 burglary counts, and five larceny charges.

Rodriguez says since the crimes date back four years, and detectives have found women's clothing and underwear which have not had owners identify them, some women may not know they have been victimized.

"So anyone who has any property that may be stolen, anything along these lines, may want to call us," says Rodriguez.

McElroy lives in Madison County, but has been held without bail since his arrest. Police say he targeted his victims after meeting them as their Uber driver.

"He would pick them up at their residence, at that point knowing where they lived, then going back later on and burglarizing them," says Rodriguez, "and even going further later on and going back when they were home and conducting these peeping Toms.”

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