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Peeping Tom hides in portaloo

A man suspected of hiding inside the waste tank of a portable toilet at a yoga festival in the United States has been arrested on charges of unlawful sexual contact and invasion of privacy.

Luke Irvin Chrisco, 30, was arrested in the Colorado town of Vail, west of Boulder, after police there stopped his vehicle on reports of a man illegally begging in the area.

"An astute officer realised that he resembled the portable toilet suspect," Boulder police said on Friday (local time).

Boulder detectives were contacted, and after interviewing Chrisco, he was arrested for the portable toilet incident.

Police said the strange event occurred June 17 at the Hanuman Yoga Festival when a woman using the facility noticed movement inside the storage tank and asked a male bystander to investigate.

The man told police he saw someone inside the tank covered in a tarp.

A security guard waited outside the toilet for 10 minutes until a shirtless, barefoot man with numerous cuts on his back and legs emerged covered in faeces.

The guard tried unsuccessfully to apprehend him as he ran from the festival grounds.

Boulder police chief Mark Beckner said in a written statement that his department received a dozen tips on the suspect's identity.

Chrisco faces one count of unlawful sexual contact and one count of criminal invasion of privacy, both misdemeanours.

He is being held on a $US1,000 ($953) bond for the begging charge, and a $US1,500 bond for the alleged toilet offences.