A man police say is a serial peeping Tom was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with felony burglary and multiple counts of voyeurism — but no offenses that automatically will land him on the sex-offender registry.
Brian Richard Lee, 44, was arrested again last week after police said he was hiding in the showers of a girl's locker room at Brighton High School.
He was charged with burglary, a third-degree felony; lewdness, a class B misdemeanor; and five counts of voyeurism, all class B misdemeanors.
"Given the fact there is a prior history there, we will be taking the case very seriously," said Salt Lake deputy district attorney Alicia Cook. "We find his behavior very concerning."
Lee was caught hiding behind a curtain in the girls' shower at Brighton High School on Oct. 29, according to police. A dance recital was happening at the school, 2220 E. Bengal Blvd. (7600 South), that night.
One of the girls noticed someone behind the shower curtain. When she opened it, she found Lee "crouching behind the curtain with his pants down. The defendant pulled up his pants and ran from the locker room," according to court documents.
Several girls followed the man into the parking lot, calling police on their cell phones as they followed, according to court documents. An officer arrived and arrested Lee just as he was getting into his car.
Lee has a long history of sneaking into girls' locker rooms at schools, mainly in Davis and Weber counties. His arrests date back to 1992. But the majority of his convictions have been class B misdemeanors, not enough to get him placed on the state sex-offender registry.
In 1995, Lee was convicted of lewdness involving a child, a class A misdemeanor. Today, a conviction on that charge would land him on the registry. But even if was placed on the registry for that crime, the 10-year statute of limitations would have already run out, meaning there would still be no record of him ever being on the registry.
While none of the charges lodged against Lee would land him on the registry upon a conviction, the burglary count does carry a potential sentence of up to five years in prison.
Lee remained in the Salt Lake County Jail Tuesday on $50,000 bond.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com