FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – A father in Flagler County chased off a “Peeping Prowler” from his daughter’s bedroom window last week, according to the sheriff’s office.
In a news release, deputies said that the Palm Coast father and his wife were sitting in their backyard on Sept. 12 when the wife spotted a man creeping through the trees next to their property.
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After the couple yelled at the man, he fled, deputies said. Out of concern for his family, the father sat on his back porch the next night in case the creeper returned.
According to investigators, the father reportedly saw the same man walk through his backyard toward his 14-year-old daughter’s bedroom window. When the father approached, he found the man — identified as Damon Smith, 29 — peering through the window, according to officials.
“(The father) observed this individual with his face against his daughter’s window, with his hands cupped around his eyes,” a charging affidavit reads. “(The father) stated he immediately struck this individual with a baseball bat in between his shoulder blades in fear for his family’s safety.”
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The father chased Smith from the home but eventually lost sight of him and called the sheriff’s office for help, investigators added.
Deputies were later able to pin Smith as the suspect in the case and when questioned, Smith admitted to being at the property and told deputies that he “gets a thrill from walking around people’s homes,” the news release said.
“Most of the time — I’m not gonna lie — I do run through yards,” Smith reportedly told detectives. “And other than that, I work my way back on the roads.”
Smith now faces charges of loitering, voyeurism and aggravated stalking. He is being held on bond of $86,000.
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