UNC student arrested for allegedly peeping on students with camera pen

UNC student Marshall Ragsdale was arrested on April 15 on eight counts of felony secret peeping, according to a warrant obtained by The Daily Tar Heel. Ragsdale allegedly placed a photographic imaging device concealed inside of a pen in bathrooms in Craige Residence Hall, including those in a suite.

The DTH reached out to Ragsdale on multiple occasions for a statement or interview, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

On Tuesday, April 22, seven days after Ragsdale was arrested, Carolina Housing residents received an email about the incident from Carolina Housing. 

According to the email, Ragsdale was identified by UNC Police after a Craige resident reported finding a "camera pen" in their suite bathroom. 

Ragsdale has been trespassed from campus, the email states, but is still considered a student at UNC, awaiting further repercussions both from law enforcement and the University. 

“It was very scary and alarming, just because this was someone who lives in the same dorm as me, and you know, this could have happened to me or anybody else,” Craige resident Elizabeth Applewhite said. 

The student is charged with eight counts of felony peeping, as well as “downstream” offenses, UNC adjunct instructor and lawyer Ryan Tuck said, which could include possession of the material and distributing or disseminating the images. He said that multiple counts could stem from multiple privacy violations, using multiple methods, in multiple settings.

Tuck said that Ragsdale’s legal implications, which could include jail time, rely on a variety of factors under the discretion of the court. The outcome could hinge upon psychological evaluation, whether or not the crime is a first time offense and odds of rehabilitation, as well as the background of the perpetrator. 

In regards to whether or not the University could be held liable for the incident, Tuck said the University does have a duty of care, but it’s unlikely that they would be expected to “check every crevice of every bathroom” or prevent all possible crime on campus, unless they had prior knowledge of the behavior, and did not act. 

The Carolina Housing email also stated that police will reach out to any impacted resident, if identified, urging students to stay vigilant and aware of their surroundings, as well as to report any suspicious activity to UNC police. 

Applewhite was made aware of the alleged peeper when she saw a reporter interviewing students about the incident outside of Craige Residence Hall. 

She said she feels the University has taken steps to ensure instances like this do not happen again, referencing the alleged peeper being trespassed from campus. However, Applewhite said she wishes she had received communication from the University making her aware of the situation sooner. 

“I think I should have found out through the school and University first,” she said. 

In an email statement to The Daily Tar Heel, UNC Media Relations said that they “cannot provide information on specific student situations” due to privacy law. 

Nicolette Tandradinata, a first-year student who said that she lived on the same floor as Ragsdale said the scariest part of the peeping occurrence was knowing devices like this could be placed at night without her knowledge. She said one way to ensure students feel safer could be implementing automatically locking doors in the residence halls. 

“Reports of alleged student violations of University policy engage the University’s student code of conduct processes. Federal privacy laws prevent disclosure about student conduct cases,” UNC Media Relations said in their statement.

If the defendant is convicted of dissemination or possession, a class one felony, repercussions could include enlisting on a sex offender registry and jail time, Tuck said. Ragsdale could also face disciplinary action under the UNC Student Code of Conduct. 

“At the very base level, it's something that's creepy and inhumane,” Tandradinata said. "I feel like everybody deserves a right to privacy, and being recorded in such a way, there's no way that it's not meant to be inappropriate." 

Ragsdale’s hearing will be held on May 16 at the Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough.

@mariaesullivan

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