A Buhl man has been charged with a felony after he was allegedly caught peeping into the bathroom window of a secluded Tuscaloosa County home last month.

According to court documents obtained by the Thread, Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Deputies were called to a home in Ralph in mid-January after a couple living there said they caught a man peering into their bathroom in the middle of the night.

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The victims live on a fenced property in a relatively remote area and do not have blinds or curtains on their rear windows.

They told police that late one night, they heard a clatter around some propane tanks on the back patio and reportedly caught 63-year-old James David Gast moving around back there.

Their first thought was that Gast may have been trying to steal the propane tanks, but after investigators identified him as a suspect and interviewed him this Tuesday, they said his intentions were more lurid.

"Gast admitted to moving the propane tanks around so he could stand on them because the bathroom window was so high," police said in a deposition after Gast's arrest.

Gast allegedly told investigators that he had previously seen the woman who lives there in her yard and found her to be attractive, so he came back at night to look through the window at her. Police say Gast told them he has done similar things elsewhere in years past.

Gast, a 63-year-old Buhl man, was arrested after investigators spoke with him Tuesday. He was charged with aggravated surveillance, which is a Class C felony in Alabama.

Gast was placed in the Tuscaloosa County Jail Thursday, where his bond was set at $7,500. He remained there Friday afternoon.

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