Centennial Hall worker arrested after following art student to class

A man who has reportedly been following a UA art student was arrested Tuesday on a trespassing charge after attending one of the student's classes.

Albert Epstein, a 57-year-old UA employee who works at Centennial Hall, was arrested for trespassing after attending a class in the Center for Creative Photography, police said.

According to UAPD reports, a man matching Epstein's description attended assistant art professor Julie Hansen's class Sept. 16 and sat directly behind one of her female students.

Eight months earlier, the man went to the same student's place of work and told her he loved her. On other separate occasions, he screamed profanities at her, reports stated.

Hansen said Epstein had attended her class on previous occasions and that he has been bothering people in the art department for about 10 years.

"He singled out one of my students and was getting closer and closer," Hansen said. "It was getting scary."

When Hansen asked the man to leave her class, he became angry and started yelling, reports stated.

Sgt. Eugene Mejia, UAPD spokesman, said Epstein has been court-ordered not to return to campus unless he is at work.

Mejia said he had not had contact with the student when Epstein was arrested Tuesday.

Hansen said the day Epstein was arrested, he had been sitting in the classroom where she holds class an hour before her class began. Hansen said she suspects he was waiting for the student.

Mejia said when Epstein was arrested, he told police he had been invited to attend the professor's lecture.

Mejia said Epstein had been charged with trespassing or disorderly conduct in past instances.

Epstein was arrested for trespassing in 1997 and 2000 for sleeping in the library. Both reports indicated Epstein had been warned for the same offense in the past.

Mejia said in order for Epstein to be charged with stalking, the student would have to have told him that his contact with her was unwanted.

Mejia said he could not be charged without evidence of that happening.

Hansen said she hopes the latest arrest will stop Epstein from contacting the student.

"Hopefully, this will be the end of it," she said. "But somehow I don't think so."