WARREN — The Warren Police Department has put a stop to an alleged serial “peeping Tom” who has been linked to incidents throughout metro Detroit including Warren, Eastpointe and Oak Park.
Marquis Fleming, 41, of Detroit, was arraigned in 38th District Court in Eastpointe on Feb. 21. He was charged with three counts of window peeping, which is a 90-day misdemeanor. Magistrate Mark Makoski set bond at $50,000 cash or surety for each count. If released on bond, Fleming is to wear a tether.
The arraignment on charges in Eastpointe follows Fleming’s arrest in Warren on Feb. 16.
According to the Warren Police Department, they received two reports of a “peeping Tom” where an unknown male in the late evening or early morning hours was allegedly seen carrying a ladder in neighborhoods near Toepfer Road and MacArthur Drive, and Toepfer and Schoenherr Road, peering in the windows of residents. According to police, one caller noted the screen from a window had been removed and the suspect was attempting to look into her daughter’s bedroom. Another caller caught the suspect on video from his security camera.
“Whenever we receive reports such as these, I immediately assign investigators and Special Operations Unit members to the case. We know the importance of quickly identifying and arresting the suspect before he escalates his behavior into more violent crime,” said Warren Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer. “Patrol officers, detectives and SOU members made locating this suspect a top priority, knowing that peeping Tom suspects often escalate their behaviors into home invasions and sexual assaults.”
According to police, Warren investigators immediately contacted surrounding jurisdictions with possible suspect information and learned that the Eastpointe Police Department had six similar incidents with the same alleged suspect peering into windows while carrying a ladder.
“SOU members of the Warren Police (Department) were able to positively identify the suspect involved in the Warren and Eastpointe incidents after conducting surveillance on the suspect which led them to the city of Oak Park where they watched as the suspect walked several times to and from the backyard of an occupied house, stood by a window, peered inside the residence and hid behind a bush,” police stated in a press release. “The suspect then fled the scene in a vehicle and was taken into custody without incident in the late evening of Feb. 16.”
“Thankfully, this suspect is off the streets and will no longer be frightening residents in the tricounty area,” said Dwyer.
Macomb County Prosecuting Attorney Peter Lucido went on to thank both the Eastpointe and Warren police departments for working together to apprehend Fleming.
“It is despicable that someone would prey on young children,” Lucido said in a statement.
A pretrial hearing was scheduled for March 15 in the 38th District Court in Eastpointe.
Fleming’s attorney, Bradley Friedman, declined to comment.
According to court records, Fleming currently has a hold in the 36th District Court in Detroit for possession of a firearm by a felon, possession of ammunition by a felon and two felony firearms counts.
The Michigan Offender Information System shows that Fleming has served time for other offenses. Most recently, he was released on Aug. 30, 2022, after spending a year in jail for possession of a stun gun.
Dawn Fraylick, communications director for the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office, said Fleming is also expected to be arraigned on charges in Warren. At press time, no date had been set for his arraignment in the 37th District Court.