Daniel Rosen, a senior State Department counterterrorism official already facing a charge of soliciting a minor girl for sex, was arrested again in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, this time accused of secretly videotaping two dozen women while they undressed in their homes.
Police say they found evidence of 40 separate incidents over the past six months when Rosen used his cellphone to film the women, including through pulled curtains or shades. They wouldn’t say whether Rosen had specially modified his phone’s camera or had stepped close to the windows to take the footage. Police found the videos on Rosen’s phone after it was searched following his arrest last month on solicitation charges. He had been out on bail.
Some of the victims have already been identified, police said. All the footage was shot in the D.C. neighborhoods of U Street, Adams Morgan, and Mt. Pleasant, where Rosen lives and was arrested on Sunday. Police asked women who think they may have been filmed to come forward so they can identify all the victims.
Rosen was charged with voyeurism as well as stalking, since he had apparently filmed some of the women more than once. Police said all the victims were over 18 years old. They also said they had no information that Rosen’s alleged acts were in any way connected to his work at the State Department, where he is the director of counterterrorism programs and policy.
In the earlier case of solicitation, Rosen reportedly believed he was chatting online with a teenage girl, who was actually a detective with the Child Exploitation Unit of Fairfax County, Va. Authorities there say they had tried since November of last year to gather evidence to arrest Rosen, but during prior chats he had allegedly insisted on using an application that takes real-time photos. Police said that’s a common technique child predators use to try and ensure they’re talking to a child and not a police officer.
Eventually, Fairfax authorities say they were able to pose one of their officers as a 14-year-old girl and persuade Rosen that she was a minor. “Good,” Rosen allegedly replied after receiving what he thought was sufficient “proof” of her age. “Now let’s get naked lol.”
Rosen is the latest in a string of state, local, and federal officials to have been accused of crimes against children, ranging from solicitation to distributing images of violent sexual acts.
