Warrant: CCSU student spied on female athletes

NEW BRITAIN — A Central Connecticut State University student was caught spying on members of the women’s swimming and diving team as they showered in a locker room on campus, according to local police.

Matthew Nieves, 25, of New Britain, was charged with voyeurism and third-degree trespassing, local police said. Court records show bond was set at $5,000.

On the afternoon of Jan. 17, officers with the Central Connecticut State University Police Department received a complaint about a suspicious person in the area of a women’s locker room in Kaiser Hall, according to Nieves’ arrest warrant. Jaclyn Piscitelli, assistant director of facilities management, reported around 3:30 p.m. that two female CCSU students saw a male suspect peeking through a door that opened into the showers, the warrant said.

When interviewed, the victims told investigators they had returned to the locker room around 2 p.m. after finishing swim practice, according to the warrant. While showering, one of the victims made eye contact with a male suspect watching through a crack in a door, the warrant said. Both victims screamed and ran to their coach, Kimberly Caruso, to alert her. Caruso oversees the CCSU diving program.

Footage filmed by closed circuit television cameras mounted in Kaiser Hall depicted the suspect as a dark-haired man sporting a goatee, according to the warrant. Investigators forwarded the relevant footage to Residence Life, the campus department tasked with managing on-campus housing, the warrant said. Department official Jean Alicandro and a member of her staff identified the suspect as Nieves, a resident of the Vance Hall dormitory.

In response to a request for comment, Jodi Latina, associate vice president of communications and media for Central Connecticut State University, said, “CCSU doesn’t comment on a pending investigation involving a named student.”

Investigators met with Nieves in the hallway outside his dorm room around 1:52 p.m. Jan. 18 and immediately noted that he was wearing glasses and had shaved his goatee, according to the warrant. When asked about the changes in his appearance, Nieves said that he had shaved his goatee that morning and had forgotten to wear glasses the day before.

Nieves told investigators that he had been wandering aimlessly through Kaiser Hall on the afternoon of Jan. 17 and inadvertently opened the door to the women’s showers as he was trying to find his way out, the warrant said. He said he had left after noticing clothing on the floor and intuiting that one or more people might be undressed inside.

While investigators did not locate any photos or videos of the locker room or the victims on Nieves’ phone, the warrant said, surveillance footage contradicted Nieves’ account by indicating he had been walking with purpose rather than wandering aimlessly. In addition, the warrant said, the footage depicted Nieves propping open a door that locked when closed with a stool, indicating he knew his way around the area and was not, as he had claimed, lost.

Investigators obtained a warrant for Nieves’ arrest on Jan. 24, according to the document. Court records show Nieves is next scheduled to appear at state Superior Court in New Britain at 10 a.m. April 27.