HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Charges have now been filed against a Katy man arrested Tuesday after his neighbor reported she caught him peeping in her window.
Mario Martel, 37, was charged with criminal trespass and ordered to stay away from the alleged victim.
Martel was released on a $100 general order bond.
Adriana Garcia, his alleged victim, is a licensed gun owner and she says she's now carrying a handgun with her at all times.
“I’m not scared of him,” she says of Martel. “I’m not scared of anyone coming at me. Of course. But I’m cautious.”
Garcia told KHOU 11 Tuesday that she had a feeling she was being watched after her son found a footprint outside her bedroom window.
“I haven't been sleeping for over a month, just waiting, waiting,” Garcia said.
She installed night vision cameras in her backyard and video showed a barefoot man tip-toeing up to the window and peeking inside.
Garcia said she recognized Martel immediately.
“I have clear footage where he looks in any way he can and touches himself while looking in through little gaps of both my bedroom windows,” Garcia said.
Garcia went outside and confronted him.
"That's when he started begging. Don't say nothing, don't say anything, please, please. And putting his hands together and ran to his house," Garcia said.
She called the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and they arrested Martel on trespassing charges.
Garcia’s story is sparking hundreds of people to weigh in on Facebook. Many said they’d pull a gun on a peeping Tom.
KHOU 11’s Legal Analyst Carmen Roe says in Texas you cannot use deadly force to prevent trespass and Texas law will not protect a person who shoots a peeping Tom.
In another recent case, a grand jury will decide whether a Harris County man will be charged after shooting a suspect allegedly caught peeping in his little girl's bedroom window.
RELATED: HCSO: Charges filed against man shot by father who says he caught him outside daughter's window
When the mother and father confronted the suspect, deputies say he apologized and then walked away before authorities could be called.
The parents grabbed their guns and followed the suspect, later identified as Jorge Ramos, to a gas station across the street.
According to court documents , the mother tried to keep him there while the father asked the clerk to call 911. At some point, they say Ramos grabbed her gun and tried to shoot her but the safety was on.
Investigators said the husband grabbed the gun and shot Ramos three times in the torso.
Ramos survived and is now charged with indecency with a child and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Meanwhile, the gate leading to Garcia's backyard is now locked. Her security cameras are still on and she's planning to add even more security to her backyard and front yard.
Garcia is the mother of a 14-year-old boy with autism. “I have to protect my family. My son and myself.”
Garcia's cameras are Blink night vision cameras she bought on Amazon. There’s apparently a blue light that flickers on when motion is detected, so Garcia put tape over the lights.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office also requested that Martel not be allowed to possess weapons and be required to submit to electronic monitoring and random urine tests.
He was released on bond.