Ocoee man arrested for looking into windows of apartments
Updated on February 23 with criminal history information.
Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Rene Santiago, 65, of Ocoee, was arrested last night for allegedly looking into the windows of multiple occupied apartments after dark.
At about 9:38 p.m. on February 21, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to Victoria Station (3500 block of SW 30th Way), where a witness reported that a man was messing with a window at her unit, and as soon as she looked through the window, the man walked away.
The officer reported that he saw Santiago walking along the exterior of occupied apartment units, looking into the windows, and in one case, Santiago reportedly leaned in to see better. The officer reported that Santiago was not on the phone with anyone or knocking on doors in an attempt to contact a specific person; instead, he “moved from window to window while looking inside,” after dark.
The officer reported that he identified himself as a police officer and told Santiago to stop, but Santiago allegedly turned to quickly walk away; when the officer again told him to stop, Santiago allegedly started running.
When the officer caught up with Santiago, Santiago allegedly resisted being placed into handcuffs.
When asked why he was looking into apartment windows, Santiago reportedly gave vague and inconsistent explanations and was unable to identify anybody he knew who lived at the complex. He also allegedly refused multiple times to identify himself. He reportedly said he had parked in another apartment complex, and after officers found his vehicle, they were able to identify him.
A search incident to arrest reportedly produced a “scream ghost” mask, a black hat, and a velcro face mask.
Santiago has been charged with loitering/prowling and resisting an officer without violence. He has one conviction for a traffic misdemeanor from 2008 and told Court Services that he has worked for Sunpass for two years and had been in Alachua County for one day; Judge James Colaw set bail at $10,000.
Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Good work GPD. Carrying around masks means he was up to more then peeping in windows. GPD caught him and probably prevented a worse crime from happening.
If carrying a mask means you’re up to something no good. What’s with all these people in Gainesville still wearing mask in grocery stores sidewalks driving cars. Hell you have a alachua county board member. Who wears a mask all the time. Of course we know she’s up. No good.
Some people wear a mask so they can’t be identified.
Some people wear a mask because they are virtue signaling and that’s their “commi flag”.
Some people wear a mask because they are hypochondriacs and have fear.
Some people wear a mask because they are immune compromised and think that piece of paper will protect them.
Some people will be highly triggered that I wrote this and will give me a thumbs down 👎 because they are haters and can’t handle the truth.
The mask is a psychological tool to scare people to stay away…during the big lie, they used fear of death to control the population and then introduced us to social distancing. Many healthy people were coerced into taking a vax shot.
Say no to vax passports.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Put it in context. When you are prowling around at night, being a ‘Peeping Tom’ and have possession of masks, it is like being caught with stuff that is not yours, coming away from a burglary scene and having ordinary tools in your car. They can be considered burglary tools and having them can be a crime.
It’s worrisome that someone would harbor support, or at least condone such behavior, simply by giving your comment a 👎🏻.
WTF why are sick peeps attracted to Wokeville and other college towns? Do they think the victims won’t call 911? Is that “racist” in Gainesville, he thought?
ACLUSPLCDNC 👿👺💩👹🤡
We both know how the government and the law works in Gainesville Low bail or ROR with the city of Gainesville open arms policy the mayor and CITY commission this is what they want
A 12 gauge on the other side of the window might cure his perversion.
Creep he should have been home