A Minneapolis man with a decades-long history of window-peeping convictions is facing new felony charges tied to alleged incidents in 2023 and 2024, including cases in the city's Como neighborhood. Prosecutors say 55-year-old John Searle is not currently in custody.
The new charges stem from additional cases reported between 2023 and 2024, according to FOX 9, which reported that Searle looked through bedroom windows in the Como neighborhood in each of the latest cases. Prosecutors described him as an “extreme risk” to public safety. Court records cited by the station say at least five other people told one victim they had similar experiences with Searle, and investigators said he was seen crouching by a basement window on July 10 before fleeing after a victim startled him.
Conflicting Accounts of Custody Status
Accounts of Searle's custody status diverge. FOX 9 reported that he was released from jail earlier this month after posting bond, while CBS Minnesota reported that Searle was being held in the Ramsey County Jail with a court date scheduled for November 30, according to CBS Minnesota. The discrepancy between the two reports has not been independently resolved.
CBS Minnesota's report also identified Searle as 44 in connection with allegations that he peeped in windows near the University of St. Thomas and recorded video of young women, a different age than the 55 cited elsewhere in coverage of the case. The station reported that investigators found several videos of the same woman recorded outside her bedroom window on multiple nights, and that Searle has been convicted of stalking and interfering with privacy a total of 10 times.
A Record Stretching Back Three Decades
Prosecutors said Searle has been peeping on women for decades, with his documented history beginning in 1995, per the same account from FOX 9. A separate report from limitless-news.com similarly described Searle's criminal history of stalking and invasion-of-privacy convictions as dating back to 1995, including cases involving residential window-peeping and unauthorized recordings, according to limitless-news.com.
That outlet reported that John David Searle, 55, faces a separate new felony charge in Hennepin County tied to alleged prowling activity in Minneapolis on July 16, 2025. The outlet noted that the allegations in that case have not been proven in court and that Searle is presumed innocent of the new charge unless and until proven guilty.
College Student's Tip Led to September Arrest
[b9] CBS Minnesota reported that a college student, identified as Emma Button, helped St. Paul police arrest Searle in September after photographing his license plate while he allegedly lurked in a neighbor's yard. Prosecutors say investigations are continuing into other peeping reports around the University of Minnesota and in the Como and Marcy-Holmes neighborhoods, and that additional charges are likely, according to FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul.
What Minnesota Law Says
The new charges against Searle involve interference with privacy, a crime addressed under Minnesota Statute 609.746. Excerpts of the statute reviewed from the Minnesota Revisor of Statutes state that a person may be guilty of a gross misdemeanor for entering another person's property and surreptitiously gazing, staring or peeping through a window or other aperture, with provisions in the law addressing the use of an observation device as well.
