Authorities said the suspect lives just a block away from the victim and told them he gets a thrill out of going around people’s homes.
A man is under arrest after a Florida father hit him with a bat and chased him away from his home for allegedly peeping into his 14-year-old daughter’s room.
And according to an arrest affidavit, it wasn’t the first time the suspect, 29-year-old Damon Smith, showed up to the victim’s home.
It was on Thursday, Sept. 12 when a man and his wife sitting on their backyard porch in Palm Coast, about 25 miles south of St. Augustine, first noticed a man creeping through the trees near their home, the affidavit states.
The couple yelled at the man and he took off, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said.
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But the father was uneasy, and the next night, sat in a dark space of his yard to keep watch.
Smith allegedly returned, and started peeking through the teen’s bedroom window.
"He literally just went out there to make us feel safe and it just so happens that [the suspect] came back," the teen’s mother, who did not want to be identified, told NBC affiliate WESH. "Who comes back two nights in a row after being busted, you know? But he did... He came sneaking around the house, came right up to my daughter's window–so I have a feeling that he knows that that's her window–so he came up and he cupped his hands around his eyes and was looking in, and so my husband came up and was like, 'Surprise expletive!’ And then whacked him with the bat, and then he ran."
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The father told authorities that he immediately struck Smith with a baseball bat in between his shoulder blades, according to the affidavit. The suspect allegedly took off running, and the father chased but eventually lost sight of him.
Video captured two people running from the home as the victim’s father yells, “Call the cops, call the cops!”
NBC affiliate WESH said investigators later went to Smith's residence, which is just a block away from the victim's. The suspect told officials he was chased that night by "some guy" who "said something about by his window, I guess.”
In bodycam video, deputies ask Smith if he has any questions before arresting him. "No," he replies.
The teen's mother said she's seen Smith before.
"We see him walking around the neighborhood, walking his little dog," she said.
The affidavit states that Smith admitted to being between two homes and near a window, but said he was not being nosey.
Additionally, Smith allegedly told deputies: "Most of the time, I'm not gonna lie, I do run through yards and other than that, I work my way back on the roads."
Authorities said Smith told them he gets a thrill out of going around people's homes.
"I have to anticipate what he meant by that was sexual gratification, and that’s usually what Peeping Toms are, especially when they’re looking into young children or even adults," said Sheriff Rick Staly. "Who knows how long he's been doing that?... This is, in my opinion, a textbook sex offender on the escalation."
Smith faces charges of prowling, voyeurism and aggravated stalking of a person under 16. He's being held on an $86,000 bail. He was also arrested in 2013 for making a bomb threat at Flagler Palm Coast High School, when he was 18, records show.
