Oumair Aejaz
By: Mary Beth Almond | Rochester Post | Published October 16, 2024
ROCHESTER HILLS — A jailed Rochester Hills doctor is facing an additional 17 felony charges connected to six alleged sexual assaults in 2023 and 2024 involving a 5-year-old girl in Novi.
On Oct. 10, Dr. Oumair Aejaz was charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, three counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct, three counts each of aggravated child sexually abusive activity and capturing the image of an unclothed person, and six counts of using a computer to commit a crime. The victim was 5 years old at the time, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.
Aejaz was taken into custody and remains at the Oakland County Jail on previously issued charges, according to authorities
Aejaz was originally arrested two months ago after authorities discovered thousands of nude photos and videos of children and adults in his home that were taken while the victims were changing at Goldfish Swim School, in hospitals, in changing areas, and in various other locations over at least the past six years.
“This individual is potentially one of the worst I’ve ever seen, because there is no particular category — it’s not just children. It’s not just women. It’s not just men. It goes from a 2-year-old boy to a grown woman,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said previously. “The victimization is so broad and the perversion so great that we’re just beginning to wrap our arms around it.”
Bouchard said it’s going to take “a huge amount of work and a significant amount of time” to get through all the footage.
“Having said that, we will leave no stone unturned to seek justice for every victim. Through this long and painstaking process we have been able to uncover this very large list of additional crimes that have not been charged and we continue to seek the public’s help to identify other potential victims,” he said in a statement.
Authorities were first alerted Aug. 7 of potential criminal activity of Aejaz — a citizen of India, a physician, a married man and a father of two young children — alleging that he was engaged in activity, including but not limited to placing hidden cameras in changing rooms, and video recording children as young as 2 years of age, all the way up to grown adults in different settings.
“The defendant’s wife produced materials that were concerning,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald added. “The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office immediately executed a search warrant and confiscated more devices and has sifted through really jarring, alarming images, and they’re still doing that.”
Authorities say Aejaz recorded sexual encounters he had with numerous women, with hospital patients who were either asleep or unconscious, and recorded relatives and strangers in the bathroom or while changing clothes. He was arrested Aug. 8 at his Rochester Hills home, arraigned Aug. 13 in 52-3 District Court in Rochester Hills and charged with one count of child sexually abusive activity, four counts of capturing an image of an unclothed person and five counts of using a computer to commit a crime.
The charges, McDonald said, stem from incidents at Goldfish Swim School in Rochester, where Aejaz is alleged to have filmed two women and two children, ages 2 and 4, in a changing area. Investigators believe the victims were filmed from a nearby changing stall. The child sexually abusive activity charge, according to authorities, involves an unidentified minor and is not related to the swim school incidents.
“He was not caught there. The victims were unaware. This was discovered on the hard drives that we were investigating,” Bouchard previously said. “The camera looks like it’s looking underneath into their changing room.”
Detectives confiscated six computers, four cellphones and 15 external storage devices from Aejaz’s home. One device contained more than 13,000 videos Aejaz recorded during the past six years. Detectives estimate it will take six months to complete a forensic examination of all the confiscated materials.
Aejaz, a citizen of India, has been working in the United States on a visa. He came to the United States around 2011, completed his residency at Detroit Sinai Grace Hospital and then moved to Dawson, Alabama. Aejaz returned to Oakland County to continue his practice in internal medicine in 2018 and had privileges at Ascension Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc Township and Henry Ford Macomb in Clinton Township but was not on staff.
Bouchard said he expects the geographic scope of the investigation to increase beyond Genesee and Macomb counties, where the hospitals are located, and may include other states or countries, depending on where Aejaz worked.
“We know that there are additional victims, and we ask anyone with information to contact the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office at OCSOSIU@oakgov.com,” McDonald said in a statement.
Aejaz’s attorney, Mariell Lehman, could not be reached for comment at press time.
Anyone who believes they were a victim of Aejaz can contact detectives at OCSOSIU@oakgov.com.