Indian doctor arrested in the US for taking photos and videos of naked children and adults

Washington: A 40-year-old Indian doctor has been held in a US jail on Rs 16 crore ($2 million) bail after being charged with multiple sex crimes for allegedly taking hundreds of nude pictures and videos of children and women over several years, media reports.

Oumair Aejaz was arrested on August 8 after allegedly placing hidden cameras in various locations such as bathrooms, locker rooms, hospital rooms and even in his own home, where he filmed children as young as two years old in various stages of undressing. Fox News reported.

Authorities became aware of his crimes after his wife submitted disturbing material. He had no criminal history prior to his arrest.

He also allegedly recorded sexual encounters with numerous unconscious or sleeping women, the Oakland County Sheriff said on Tuesday.

The extent of Aejaz's crimes is currently unknown, but Sheriff Mike Bouchard said it will take months to complete the investigation. Authorities suspect there could be many more victims as investigators have reviewed thousands of videos found at his home in Rochester Hills, a city in Oakland County, Michigan.

“The victimhood is so vast and the perversion so great that we are only just beginning to understand it,” he said. “Disturbing on so many levels.” He compared the scale of the criminality to that of Larry Nasser, the disgraced sports doctor who was convicted of abusing dozens of young women in his care.

Since Aejaz was arrested at his home on August 8, several search warrants have been executed. These include computers, phones and 15 external devices. Bouchard said 13,000 videos are stored on a single hard drive.

He may also have uploaded videos to the cloud storage.

Aejaz was charged on August 13 with one count of sexual abuse of a child, four counts of taking an image of an unclothed person and five counts of using a computer to commit a crime. He is being held in the Oakland County Jail on Rs 16 crore ($2 million) bail, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Oakland County District Attorney Karen McDonald said Aejaz's wife provided disturbing materials earlier this month, and the sheriff's office immediately obtained a search warrant and confiscated more devices. She said investigators have “really reviewed distressing, alarming images” and will continue to do so.

McDonald said Aejaz also attacked reputable institutions and hospitals, which she said were cooperative.

Many of the allegations stem from Aejaz allegedly filming a mother and her children in a changing room at the Goldfish Swimming Club in 2023. However, he is also believed to have assaulted patients in hospital rooms.

“These are children and mothers in a swim school,” McDonald said. “They are there to teach their children to swim. Because it brings joy to their children and because they want their children to be safe in the water. They have been bullied by a trusted person in the community – a doctor.”

His work history shows that he was employed at Henry Ford Macomb Hospital in Clinton Township and Ascension Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc. He was currently employed as a contract physician by a company that sent him to various hospitals.

He previously immigrated to the United States in 2011 on a work visa from India, of which he is a citizen. He completed his residency at Sinai Grace Hospital before spending time in Alabama. He returned to Michigan in 2018.

Due to the large number of victims and the difficulty of identifying them, the police have provided an email address through which citizens can contact the authorities.