Police Searching for Bathroom Stall Peeper from Downtown Coffee Shop

Published on February 02, 2022

Palo Alto, CA – Police are searching for a man who entered a women’s restroom at a downtown coffee shop on Monday afternoon and looked under the stall divider at an adult woman using the toilet.

On Monday, January 31, 2022, at about 4:47 p.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call of a suspicious circumstance that had occurred within the past ten minutes at Verve Coffee Roasters at 162 University Avenue.  The victim, a woman in her twenties, said that a man had peered under the bathroom stall divider at her, and fled after she yelled and ran out of the restroom.  Police responded immediately but could not locate the suspect.

The investigation revealed that the man had been getting coffee at the counter when the victim entered the women’s restroom.  As she was using the toilet, she heard someone else come in the bathroom and enter the stall next to her.  She saw that the person appeared to be wearing men’s shoes.  As she stood up from the toilet, she looked behind her and noticed the suspect’s head underneath the stall divider looking in her direction.  She screamed at the man and ran out of the restroom.  He exited the restroom immediately thereafter and ran out of the coffee shop.

The victim described the suspect as an Indian male, about 5 feet 11 inches tall, with a thin build.  He was wearing a black jacket with a small white logo on the chest, dark-colored jeans, and black running shoes.  He was wearing a black backpack and had short, spiked hair.  Two surveillance images of the suspect are attached to this release.

Police are actively investigating this case.  No similar crimes in Palo Alto have been reported to police recently.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413.  Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.