The UF Police Department issued a warrant Wednesday for a man who used a cell phone to record a student in a Murphree Hall shower.
Deontre Donnell Mason, 24, was arrested and released from a $10,000 bond Dec. 7 after University of Central Florida Police Department officers arrested him, according to a police report.
Mason has been banned from all UF properties, including UF Health, according to a UF Alert Timely Warning. UPD worked with UCFPD to identify the suspect of the video voyeurism case.
The Clery Act requires UF to send campuswide timely warning messages.
UPD received a call Dec. 2 that a woman may have been videoed while in her Murphree Hall shower, but the caller was unable to describe the suspect. The police department believes that Mason did not have lawful access to the building, according to the UF Alert warning.
UCF had a similar incident on their campus Nov. 29. Mason confessed to recording the victim over the stall divider in a bathroom, according to a police report. He was also banned from Palm Beach Atlantic University in 2020 for wandering the female dormitory, according to the report.
Mason had no affiliation with UCF, PBAU or UF.
During the investigation, UCFPD found concerning videos on Mason’s phone, which they traced to Gainesville and UF.
“This is what started our investigation into Mason,” UPD’s Sergeant Chad Holway wrote in an email.
UPD identified Mason using a Facebook photo of him holding his blue iPhone with a black case, as described by the victim.
During the investigation, the police departments discovered Mason had additional videos of unknown victims on UF’s campus.
UPD asks anyone who believes they were filmed without their permission between 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Dec. 2 in the Murphree Hall or Library West area to contact them at (352) 392-1111 or use the UFPD Silent Witness Link.
UPD encourages all students to let only themselves into residence halls and close the door behind them. No one should be allowed access without a key fob, Holway wrote.
“If you approach a door and you see someone standing outside the door waiting to be let in, and you don’t want to let that person in,” Holway said, “Go use a different door, or contact your RA or the Police Department.”
Contact Lily Kino at lkino@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @lily_kino.
Lily is a third-year journalism major with a concentration in environmental science covering criminal justice for The Alligator. Last semester, she served as the Santa Fe reporter. When she's not writing, you can find Lily on a nature walk, eating Domino's Pizza or spending time with her friends.
