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Man seen on TikTok video lurking near women in Burbank bookstore appears in court

A man seen in a TikTok video lurking near women in a Burbank bookstore earlier this month was arraigned in court on Monday.

Glendale police arrested 37-year-old Calese Crowder on Friday for an unrelated incident in which he was suspected of peeping into a home.


Calese Crowder, 37, is seen in an image provided by the Glendale Police Department.

“The family, including children, were home at the time of the incident,” the Glendale Police Department stated in a news release.

During Monday’s arraignment, Crowder was ordered to remain in jail for 60 days after he pleaded no contest to charges. He must also complete 52 weeks of sexual impulse classes.

On Aug. 7, a woman shopping at a Burbank bookstore recorded TikTok video of a man, apparently Crowder, crouching near her and another woman inside the store.

A TikTok video captures a man lurking extremely close to a woman’s legs while she was shopping in a Burbank Barnes & Noble. (Michaela Witter)

“It felt like anywhere I moved, he kept following me,” 28-year-old Michaela Witter recalled. “So I recorded just in case he was trying to say anything or do anything to me, but I definitely did not expect him to do this.”

After posting the now-viral video, Witter discovered the suspect is potentially the same man with a long criminal history of peeping, prowling and residential burglary in Glendale.

Crowder is due back in court on Sept. 14.