A doctor in Michigan has been taken into custody for charges related to recording young children and adults in changing rooms at a swim school in Rochester, according to authorities in Oakland County. They anticipate identifying more victims as they have found thousands of videos and images on the doctor’s devices, including footage of him assaulting a patient at a hospital. Dr.
Oumair Aejaz has been charged with one count of child sexual abuse, four counts of capturing an image of a naked person, and five counts of using a computer to commit a crime, stated Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard at a news conference on Tuesday. “This individual is possibly one of the worst I’ve ever seen,” the sheriff said. “Because there’s no specific category. It’s not just children, it’s not just women, it’s not just men. It ranges from a 2-year-old to an adult woman.
The victimization is so widespread, and the perversion so significant, that we’re just beginning to comprehend it.” The charges are primarily related to an incident that occurred at a Goldfish Swim School in August 2023, video of which was discovered on hard drives seized from Aejaz earlier this month. “The current charges that we’ve filed from the incidents we’ve identified so far have taken place in Oakland County and involve four separate victims,” said Oakland County Prosecutor Karen D. McDonald at the news conference. “The cases currently charged stem from the swim school and involve a 2-year-old, a 4-year-old, and two adult females.” McDonald later clarified that the charge of child sexual abuse is related to material found on Aejaz’s device, not the incident at the swim school.
In addition to the current criminal charges, the sheriff’s office alleged in a news release that Aejaz used “hidden cameras to record children as young as age 2 and women of various ages in hospital rooms, changing areas, as well as inside closets, bathrooms and bedrooms he could access,” for at least the past six years. Detectives believe Aejaz also recorded sexual encounters he had with numerous hospital patients who were “either asleep or unconscious and recorded relatives in the bathroom or while changing clothes,” according to the release. Earlier this month, Aejaz’s wife provided information and materials to the sheriff’s office that were concerning.
Oakland County court records show Aejaz’s wife filed a restraining order against her husband and requested sole custody of their home and children after filing for divorce in June. Authorities immediately executed search warrants and confiscated six computers, four cell phones, and 15 external storage devices – one of which held 13,000 videos.
Aejaz was arrested by detectives during the execution of the search warrant of his home on August 8. According to the sheriff, some of the footage captured by Aejaz came from inside his own home, which he shared with his wife and two young sons.
Aejaz was arraigned on August 13 in Rochester Hills District Court and is currently being held in Oakland County Jail on a $2 million bond. A citizen of India, Aejaz had been working in the United States on a visa.
His next hearing is scheduled for August 26. “And those are just the charges we’ve pressed so far that relate to the victims that we can identify,” McDonald continued, noting authorities expect to find more victims from the thousands of images on the devices. “What we understand from law enforcement is this was not a case where cameras were affixed to or hidden in the Goldfish facility but rather recordings were made by hidden recording equipment on the suspect’s person or his belongings that he brought in and out of the facility when he came into our school for lessons,” Goldfish Swim School said in a statement. “Aejaz ‘had privileges’ at Henry Ford Macomb in Clinton Township and Ascension Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc Township but was not part of their staff,” according to the sheriff’s office release. At the news conference, Bouchard asked any other medical facilities where Aejaz was licensed or practicing to inform the sheriff’s office. “We are shocked by these allegations and take them very seriously. This individual has never been an employee of Henry Ford He.”
Although Aejaz had privileges at multiple local hospitals, including Henry Ford Macomb Hospital, he has been prevented from practicing at the health system due to concerns about patient and team member safety, according to a statement from Henry Ford Health. CNN has also contacted Ascension for a response.
The sheriff estimated that it would take approximately six months to complete a forensic examination of all the seized materials and anticipated that the investigation into Aejaz would extend beyond local jurisdictions to possibly include other states or countries. Bouchard stated, “Violating children in safe spaces as they change for a fun swim or sexually violating women who are still under sedation from a medical procedure shows his depravity has no limits.
At the end of this case, it is my fervent hope he is held fully accountable behind bars.”
