Convicted sex offender in jail on peeping charges

The last time Kurt Hauser was arrested for peeping into a stranger's bedroom window -- just days ago -- he shelled out $100 to get out of jail.

It'll cost him more now.

The 33-year-old was ordered held on a cumulative $1.5 million bond Tuesday, one day after prosecutors said he was spotted peering into another bedroom window near his Palatine home.

It was the third allegation of such an offense against Hauser in about three weeks. Police said muddy footprints also have linked Hauser -- a registered sex offender -- to a peeping incident in late July.

All three times the homes were near his, in a Palatine neighborhood just south of the Jewel store on Plum Grove Road, police said.

Police and prosecutors say Hauser -- who has served prison time for a 1999 sexual assault and been charged in two mid-1990s peeping cases -- has built a pattern of such behavior and is a danger to the Palatine community.

Monday's arrest came after he peered into a first-floor bedroom window on South Greeley Street, prosecutors said. The woman inside was undressed at the time. Police, contacted by the residents, later found Hauser crawling on his hands and knees toward the front door of his own home on Palatine Road.

He was arrested and identified by the woman who'd seen him outside the window, prosecutors said. He confessed, they said, but also blamed the victim -- saying she'd piqued his attention by walking past the window.

The Aug. 2 charge alleges Hauser peeped in a bedroom window at a home on East Daniels Street. In that case, police said, a neighbor saw him, followed him and called the police. Hauser also has been linked to an incident on South Oak Street, police say.

Hauser's recent offenses are misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges. The higher-than-usual bond sum -- an increased amount of $1 million for the Aug. 2 arrest and $500,000 for Monday's charge -- takes his background into account, prosecutors said.

Should he post bail, Hauser will have to wear an electronic monitoring device. He is due in court again Sept. 10.

Area residents said Tuesday they'd not heard of the peeping incidents. Palatine police say residents can contact them for further information.