The "Ticket to College" event at Santa Fe Community College on April 16 was billed as a day for prospective students to talk with financial aid and academic advisers, and get a sampling of what the college had to offer.
But an 18-year-old prospective student got an unwelcome sampling when she took a bathroom break about 1:30 p.m.
Someone tried to take a photo of her with a cell phone camera but neglected to turn off the digital function that makes the shutter sound.
"She looked behind her and saw a man's hand under the stall with a camera phone," Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano said.
The woman yelled, "What are you doing?" and ran from the restroom to find her father, who was just coming out of the men's restroom.
The father went to the women's restroom, saw the man leaving and asked him what he was doing. But the man continued to the parking lot, where he got into a tan Chevrolet S-10 pickup and drove away. The father took down the license plate number, according to Solano.
Sheriff's deputies then obtained owner information about the pickup and located a booking photo of the owner from a previous arrest. Meanwhile, the college security force had pulled its surveillance footage of the man leaving the campus.
Sheriff's deputy Diego Lucero and the father compared the photo and the footage to identify James McDow, 45.
John Tapia, a security officer at the college, said McDow had been found before in the same women's restroom. Solano said McDow had been asked on that prior occasion to leave the campus. McDow is not a student at the college.
McDow was arrested Tuesday at his place of employment, El Rey Hotel, on a charge of voyeurism. A bond of $100,000 cash has been set.
Solano said that as the young woman sat on the toilet, she noticed in the stall to her right a pair of feet stepping off the toilet. She also noticed a Budweiser beer can on the floor of that stall.
"She assumed maybe someone was hiding in there to drink," Solano said.
Police searched a home in Eldorado that McDow listed as belonging to one of his parents, as well as a home where he was living in the Glorieta/Pecos area.
"We found adult pornographic magazines" at the home in Glorieta/Pecos, Solano said. Police also found a digital camera there and confiscated McDow's cell phone when he was arrested.
"We didn't find any photos" on either, Solano said, "but it will go to our forensic house. They can find photos even if they've been deleted.
"In last year's Legislature," Solano said, "there was a push to get this voyeur law passed." The arrest is a misdemeanor charge if the victim is 18 or older. It is a felony if the victim is younger than 18.
McDow was arrested in 1997 for burglary and possession of cocaine in Albuquerque, in 1998 for a failure to appear warrant in Santa Fe, and in 2005 for a DWI and reckless driving.
Janet Wise, executive director of marketing and public relations for the college, said, "Nothing of this nature has happened since I've worked here, and that's been three years."
She described the incident as a "very unpleasant experience" for the young woman.
"We had our counseling staff here and available" for her," Wise said. "The counselors ... offered assistance to her and to her family."
Wise said the college has a "neighborhood watch-type of network" to alert its security team of any problems. "They rely on the informal network of campus watch going on, and everybody pays attention to, and wants to help make campus safe," Wise said. "That's probably why this individual was apprehended so quickly."
