Coral Gables Police Arrest Suspected Peeping Tom
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Coral Gables police detectives announced Wednesday the arrest of a man suspected of voyeurism and they say there could be more victims.
Coral Gables police said Yoel Diaz Hernandez, 31, was positively identified by two women, who said he peered into the bedrooms of their homes in the 4000 and 5000 blocks of Ponce De Leon Boulevard near the University of Miami without the consent of the owners.
Authorities said the incidents occurred on January 10th and August 27th of this year.
Police released a RING video which they say shows Hernandez, who detectives say used to be a former Uber driver, walking next to a home in March.
On Wednesday afternoon a spokesperson for Uber said, "We don't have any record of anyone by that name driving on the Uber app."
On Tuesday, October 1st, Hernandez was taken into custody by Coral Gables Police Department.
Police spokeswoman Officer Kelly Denham told CBS4'S Peter D'Oench, "They ran the tag number of the vehicle and identified the owner and put it into the photo lineup and both victims positively identified the person."
"We received that ring cam video in March showing our subject walking to the rear of a home. No one was home. But the homeowner sent the video to us as a suspicious person. We were able to tie all the leads together and one of those leads was about an Uber driver in the area."
Police say the license tag was linked to Hernandez's Uber profile. Denham says the arrest was the result of good police work by detectives tying together all of the leads in this case.
The arrest report says Hernandez admitted to both incidents during an interview with detectives.
Hernandez was charged with two counts of voyeurism and two counts of trespass to an occupied structure.
He was transported to Turner Guilford Knight (TGK), Miami-Dade's main correctional center.
Investigators believe there could be other victims throughout Miami-Dade County.
Denham said, "Right now we don't know because he was an Uber driver possibly traversing through the county and there could be victims elsewhere."
D'Oench also spoke with a University of Miami Junior who believes the same suspect may have looked in her window around August 19th and around the time that classes started at the school.
"I didn't see him personally but a neighbor told me she saw it. She caught this man looking through my bedroom window and she was walking her dogs so she yelled at him and I guess he fled and the next morning she told me she someone looking through my bedroom window which was pretty alarming. This is a great big invasion of privacy because this is the sanctity of your own home and you do not expect people to be watching you. I am glad this man got caught. I mean who is he for doing this?"
Loren Volpe, a UM senior who also lives on Ponce de Leon Boulevard near. The school, said "I am glad they caught. I mean being a young woman and living so close to campus and still being affected by this we do not feel safe. It is very wrong and a breach of privacy and I do not expect this sort of thing especially if you are an Uber driver and are responsible for the safety of other individuals."
Anyone who believes they could have been Hernandez's victim is urged to call their local police department or the Coral Gables police at 305-442-1600.
Denham said "Your home is your safe haven. It is one place you go at the end of the day and you feel safe that nobody is going to harm you. As a woman and to have someone looking in to your home you don't know if this crime is going to escalate."
