Bathroom Crime

Historically, if a woman was confronted by a visibly male person loitering in female-only spaces like a public restroom, she could complain to management, security or police and have the man ejected. However, the notable cases page demonstrates how men can now claim a female “gender identity”, which entitles them to access female-only space. In many jurisdictions women now have no recourse if they discover a man in sex-segregated female spaces.

This page provides examples of incidents involving men accessing female-only spaces while dressed in women’s attire. It is impossible to tell which of these men claim a female “gender identity”, and which do not.

2011 Clackamas County, USA – child predator, serial offender: Thomas Lee Benson had been convicted of sexually abusing children and had a long history of dressing up in women’s attire and accessing female-only spaces. Benson was arrested in July 2011 after leaving the girl’s locker room at North Clackamas Aquatic Park and attempting to flee the scene. He had been observed accosting several children around the park. He was wearing a bra, lipstick and eyeliner at the time of his arrest. In 1994 Benson was convicted of sexual abuse and paying to view child sexual conduct. He had previously been caught wearing women’s attire in female-only facilities in 1996, 2001, 2007 and 2009. According to a 2012 Clackamas County Sex Offender alert, Benson claims he wants to live his life as a woman.

2012 Teignmouth, UK – attempted rape, elderly victim, serial predator: While wearing a skirt and tights, Mark Lazarus, 39, pounced on a 71-year-old woman as she washed her hands in the women’s toilets. He dragged her into a cubicle and attempted to rape her. Lazarus fled when the woman screamed and resisted, and was detained by a passer-by. Lazarus had a prior history of sexual predation whilst dressed in women’s attire, including against school-age girls. The judge told him: ‘There was an element of stealth and cunning. It was predatory behaviour with a chilling echo of your previous offending. Your risk of re-offending increases when you cross dress. This offence highlights your fascination with skirts.’ Lazarus was jailed indefinitely.

2013 Oklahoma City, USA – child, assault: A young girl entered the women’s bathroom at a gas station. A man wearing women’s underwear locked the door behind her and attempted to choke her with a shirt. After hearing the girl’s screams, witnesses managed to unlock the door, and discovered the man was wielding a gun. Christopher Todd Gard was later charged with aggravated assault and battery, assault with a dangerous weapon, kidnapping, indecent exposure and possession of a firearm during a felony.

2003 Matsuyama, Japan – voyeurism, serial offender: A 33-year-old man, Eichi Yamamoto, dressed in women’s clothing so he could sneak into bath houses and watch naked women bathing over a period of several months. He disguised himself in a wig, blouse, skirt, bra, and lipstick in order to enter the facilities. “I wanted to see women naked,” he told the investigators. “Dressing up as a woman was a step to do that.” He was charged with 17 counts of illegally entering buildings and peeping.

2013 San Bernardino, USA – recording: 46-old-man Rodney Kenneth Petersen is accused of dressing in women’s clothing in order to gain access to female-only facilities across San Bernardino, where he tried to take pictures of women with a cell phone hidden in his bag.

2015 Singapore – voyeurism: A 22-year-old “peeping tom” was arrested after disguising himself as a woman and accessing the women’s toilet at the ITE College West. He was wearing a wig and miniskirt and had shaven legs. A girl using the facilities raised the alarm, and a picture of the perpetrator was later posted online with the caption “This man who dressed like a woman tried to peep at my friend in the women’s toilet.”

1999 Port Richley, USA – assault: In 1999 a woman, 40-year-old Cheryl Partsch, questioned a man dressed as a woman about his presence in the women’s bathroom at a Port Richley bar. Patrick Hagan, martial arts expert and 6’3, 230 pound hulk, punched the woman in the face, causing her to lose 5 teeth and leaving her with up to $60,000 in medical bills. Hagan was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison.

2013 Los Angeles, USA – recording: A man disguised himself as a woman in order to access the women’s restroom in a Los Angeles department store, where he used a concealed camera to film hours of footage of women using the facilities. He filmed the women by pointing the concealed camera under the restroom stalls, but one woman noticed the red recording light and alerted security. A man was reportedly seen leaving the women’s restroom and police later found him hiding in a storage area. He was wearing a wig, women’s clothing, bra, and fake breasts. 33-year-old Jason Pomare was charged with six counts of unlawful use of a concealed camera for purposes of sexual gratification.

2015 Makkah, Saudi Arabia – molestation: A man in his 30s was arrested after dressing as a woman on multiple occasions and using the disguise to access the women’s bathroom at a mosque. He sexually harassed and molested women until authorities followed the man leaving the mosque and caught him taking off the disguise.

2012 Everett, USA – voyeurism: A man was arrested after entering a women’s restroom at Everett Community College. Police noted the man was wearing a wig and a bra, and he also had a pair of women’s underpants in his pocket. Taylor J Buelher, 18, at first claimed he was in the restroom to use the facilities, but he later admitted to an earlier incident of voyeurism at the college, where he took a shower in the girl’s locker room for sexual gratification.

2015 Tengzhou City, China – voyeurism: Zhang Li was caught peeping at women in a public toilet while dressed in women’s attire. A woman walked into the facility and saw the man lying on the floor, attempting to look under the door of an occupied cubicle. The man was wearing a tight skirt, red stockings, necklace and a face mask. The woman fled and alerted police.

2010 Rome, USA – children, indecent exposure, serial offender: 51-year-old Norwood Smith Burnes was arrested for undressing in front of children in the women’s restroom at Walmart. Witnesses said that when he was in the women’s restroom, he ordered women out as they tried to enter. It was reported that he was found in “stages of undress, while on the stone floor and would do this in the presence of several young children.” Police officers described his clothing as a dark woman’s suit including a short skirt and jacket, black leather coat, black high heels, red nail polish, green eye shadow and women’s jewelry. Burnes had been in the women’s section of the store with his skirt “kicked up showing his white girdle and dark thong underwear.” The police report noted he has a prior criminal history of indecent exposure. He was charged with public indecency, disorderly conduct, and criminal trespass.

2011 La Mesa, USA – harassment: A middle-aged man dressed in women’s attire and female face mask accessed the women’s restroom at a movie theatre. As a woman was washing her hands, he came out from one of the stalls and asked to shake her had. When the woman refused, the man left the restroom and wandered around the lobby of the cinema, approaching woman and asking to shake their hands.

2010 Berkeley, USA – recording: On two separate occasions a man disguised in women’s attire entered the female locker room at UC Berkeley Recreational Sports Facility and observed and took pictures of women using the facilities. On the first occasion,  the man’s costume included dark sunglasses and a curly wig. He wore a towel over his head and attempted to cover his jaw and mouth. Custodial staff saw him taking pictures in the locker room with his cell phone. When he was confronted he fled the scene. On the second occasion, while she was changing her clothes, a 22-year old patron observed the man wearing the same disguise. When she confronted him, once again he fled the scene. The individual was not located by police.

2014 San Diego, USA – attempted rape, assault: A man wearing a stolen dress entered a women’s restroom and entered a stall. When a woman entered another stall, the man climbed under the wall, grabbed the woman and attempted to rape her. The woman struggled and managed to escape. George Philip Schwartz, 40, was charged with assault with attempt to commit rape, false imprisonment by violence, assault with a force likely to cause great bodily harm, and assault with a deadly or dangerous weapon.

2008 Hokkaido, Japan – loitering: 45-year-old banker, Tsukasa Okazaki, was arrested for trespassing. He donned a blouse and make-up and loitered in a women’s public toilet. “I wanted people to see me as some sort of weirdo,” he told police.

2004 Greensburg, USA – stalking: 48-year-old Robert Domasky – who was living under the stolen identity of a woman and went by her name “Kelly Hullenbaugh” – was caught in the girl’s locker room of a local high school wearing women’s attire. He claimed he was looking for a cheerleading coach so he could ask for lessons. Domasky had a fixation on cheerleaders. Police said he “stated he has fantasies of dressing up as a cheerleader or being a cheerleader.” Police reported he had photos of both himself dressed up in cheerleader uniforms, and photos of local cheerleaders taken from his car as the girls were going to a Friday night football game. Domasky was charged with identity theft, trespassing on school property, forgery and stalking.

2009 San Jose, USA – child predator, loitering: A man dressed in a wig, fake breasts and carrying a purse was arrested for loitering in a women’s restroom. The man, 60-year-old Richard Rendler, was a registered sex offender and had prior arrests for child molestation and indecent exposure.

2015 King County, USA – recording: A man dressed in women’s attire entered the women’s restroom at Bellevue College. He sat in a stall and filmed at least three women using the neighboring stall with his iPhone. The women, who were friends, had each used the facilities and the last one noticed the phone pointing at her as she was seated on the toilet. They left the restroom and waited for the man, following him once he had emerged and alerting a security guard. The man attempted to delete items from his phone before he was detained. When police searched his phone they found videos of the three women, and recordings taken in another location on a different day. 39-year-old Robert Whitehead was charged with four counts of voyeurism.

2007 Hong Kong, China – loitering: A man was jailed after being caught loitering in the women’s restroom of a public hospital, dressed as a female nurse. A female dentist at the hospital exited a cubicle and was confronted by 29-year-old Chung Kai-Lun, who was wearing a black wig, green surgical mask, white skirt and women’s clothes. He had previously been arrested for loitering in a school canteen dressed as a schoolgirl, and had been given a suspended sentence. Chung told the court that he considers himself a woman but cannot afford a sex-change.

2008 West Lafayette, USA – recording: Police investigated an incident at Purdue University which involved a man who dressed in women’s attire and accessed the women’s restroom. A woman was in a stall in the restroom when she saw a hand holding a phone underneath the door. She confronted the person and realized it was a man dressed as a woman. He was wearing facial makeup, a long, dark-colored wig, a brown top, light gold-colored Capri pants and plaid shoes. A member of staff was also in the washroom and asked the man to follow her to an office. As they descended the stairs, the man ran away. Police did not find the individual.

2010 Polk County, USA – child predator: During an elementary school Grandparent’s Day program, a man wearing women’s attire entered the female restroom. After attracting attention, he left the school grounds. Several days later police tracked him down. He had been attending the event at the school with his boyfriend, 49-year-old William Baker, a registered sex offender who had been convicted of attempting to commit aggravated sexual battery of a 6-year-old girl, in 1994. Neither men had any cause to be at the elementary school, and Baker’s history of child predation prohibited him from being around children in school environments. He faced felony charges.

2007 Saudi Arabia – voyeurism: A man dressed in women’s attire including a face veil and accessed the women’s restrooms. He stood in line and watched women taking off their abayas before using the facilities. Women noticed his hairy hands and alerted the police who arrested him.

2011 Birmingham, UK – recording: Joel Hardman, 22, was caught spying on women in a shopping mall restroom, wearing a rubber female face mask and black wig. He confessed to police that he “liked to listen to ladies urinate” and had previously admitted watching someone during a private act for his own sexual gratification. He took pictures of women’s feet under the cubicle walls and made audio recordings. His appearance startled several women, and security officers caught him as he burst out from a cubicle. Hardman was given a 3 year community order and required to register as a sex offender for 5 years.

2015 Woodbridge, USA – voyeurism: A man dressed in women’s attire spied on women as they used the bathroom in a Walmart restroom. A woman noticed the man standing outside her stall, using a mirror in order to see inside. When the victim confronted the man, he fled. Surveillance video shows the man dressed in sunglasses, a brown wig, pink shirt, black Capri-style pants, black and neon green shoes and carrying a large red and black handbag.