BCIT criticized for its handling of peeping tom case

A 23-year-old man is facing charges after allegedly recording a classmate in the washroom at the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s main campus in Burnaby.

BCIT student Chieh-Sen Yang is facing one count of secretly observing or recording nudity in a private place after allegedly using a mirror and cellphone to record people, predominantly males, in the washroom in November 2015.

Yang was scheduled to be in court Wednesday, but only his lawyer Edward Chu showed up. Outside the courthouse, Chu refused to comment to the media on his client’s case.

The charges against Yang were the talk of the BCIT campus Wednesday. Some students are wondering why they did not learn about the peeping tom suspect in Nov. 2015, when the crime allegedly happened.

However, Global News spoke with multiple students on Wednesday who were still not aware of the incident.

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Burnaby RCMP does have a message it wants everyone at BCIT to hear. “We believe that there are potentially more victims…it’s important for us to appeal to the public that if somebody believes that they may have been filmed in such a way that they come forward,” Cpl. Daniela Panesar said.

Anyone who has more information or who may have been victimized can contact Burnaby RCMP Cst. Clint Paisley at 604-656-3245.

Yang is scheduled to appear back in court on Feb. 23.

BCIT president Kathy Kinloch sent out a letter to students late Tuesday night that said, in part:

“You may have read or heard recent news stories about the Burnaby RCMP’s arrest of an individual at our Burnaby Campus late last year related to voyeurism. This behaviour is unacceptable and we take this very seriously.

Given this, I wanted to reach out tonight to assure you that your safety and wellbeing at BCIT are very important to us.

This incident has also encouraged me to reflect on our communication approach with our campus community. I believe we can improve. You have my assurance we will communicate with you in a timely way in future.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "You may have read or heard recent news stories about the Burnaby RCMP's arrest of an individual at our Burnaby Campus late last year related to voyeurism. This behaviour is unacceptable and we take this very seriously.</p><p>Given this, I wanted to reach out tonight to assure you that your safety and wellbeing at BCIT are very important to us.</p><p>This incident has also encouraged me to reflect on our communication approach with our campus community. I believe we can improve. You have my assurance we will communicate with you in a timely way in future."

WATCH: A BCIT student is in trouble with the law, after allegedly spying on and recording someone inside a washroom. John Daly has a Global News exclusive.

1:55 BCIT student accused of recording classmate in bathroom

– With files from John Daly & Herman Chau