Accused ‘serial’ Peeping Tom back in Rock Hill jail on voyeurism charge

A Rock Hill man police have described as a serial Peeping Tom who only months ago was released from prison for looking at a teen in a bathroom is back in jail again after another victim – this one a neighbor - claimed he was peeping at her trough a bedroom window.

Travis Cousar, 34, a registered sex offender who was a suspect in at least 20 reported cases of peeping and voyeurism and has voyeurism-related convictions in 2013 and earlier this year, remains jailed on a $100,000 bond after he was arrested Thursday.

Cousar claimed in court Friday, “Why every time something like this my name is brought up?” but Rock Hill Municipal Court Judge Dolores Williams cut Cousar off and told him he faces up to five years in prison for the latest arrest of convicted.

Cousar was sentenced to 18 months in February but because of accrued jail time was released after just months in prison. Soon after he was released he was charged with pointing a gun and assault in an incident over a moped but later made bond and was released yet again.

And now police say Cousar has victimized another young woman.

The woman, who reported the crime Tuesday to police, claimed Cousar was standing on her porch looking at her through a bedroom window. She picked Cousar out of a police line-up, arrest warrants show.

The woman has two young daughters and was so terrified by the peeping that she has asked her mother to stay with her and the children.

“I don’t feel safe at all,” the woman said during the bond hearing. “I want to be able to sleep and take care of my children without fear.”

The victim’s mother said she was shocked to find out that Cousar has been accused and convicted of similar crimes so many times before.

“With all these charges, are you serious, why is he still on the street?” the victim’s mother asked in court. “What’s next when he gets to the next level?”

The mother begged the judge to deny bond, saying simply of Cousar: “He needs help.”

Cousar has arrests and convictions dating back to 1998 for drug and property crimes. Cousar’s mother also appeared in court Friday, claiming the incidents of peeping are “not always my son.”

This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 9:50 AM with the headline "Accused ‘serial’ Peeping Tom back in Rock Hill jail on voyeurism charge."