UC Riverside police are investigating complaints from 16 women living in a student dormitory that a male student filmed them in the dorm shower for up to a month before he was caught, according to a search warrant issued in the investigation.

“I was just being a pervert,” the male student told a university police officer who questioned him about the spy pen camera, according to a warrant issued by a Riverside County Superior Court judge.

The 19-year-old male student from Diamond Bar was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor invasion of privacy, but not identified by name because of laws related to student privacy, UCR spokeswoman Kris Lovekin wrote in an email.

But, according to the warrant, UCR police arrested Justin Suh, who lives in the same dorm as some of the victims.

The police investigation of incidents in the West Lothian dorm will be forwarded to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office soon for review and possible filing of charges.

The male student at first denied placing the camera in the restroom but later allowed an officer to look through his laptop computer and tablet computer, according to the court document.

The officer found about 20 10-minute videos of females in the shower area. The suspect’s cell phone and the pen camera also were confiscated. Videos were labeled with names of the women or nicknames and dorm room numbers. The device had a removable memory card and USB port for downloading data.

A female student told campus police that on June 2 she had just taken a shower when the male student came into the shower area and reached up to a wall vent, where the pen camera was eventually found, according to the warrant. She covered herself and asked him what he was doing. He apologized and left. She reported the incident to a dorm staff member who found the camera.

The woman student and a second female student told police the same male student came into the restroom three other times, sometimes on the pretext of looking for a friend.

UCR Student Affairs will conduct a review and the university’s Title IX Office is conducting its own investigation.

Counseling has been offered to victims, and anyone affected may contact the residential services office at 951-827-5972.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9075 or gwesson@pe.com