A man charged with filming a teenage girl in the dressing room of a Fairfax County mall is believed to have filmed more than 60 other victims and created more than 100 videos in shopping center fitting rooms, police said Thursday.
Police said the victims could be from across the D.C. area, or from other states. The videos were taken between Dec. 15 and Dec. 24 in fitting rooms at Forever 21, H&M and Old Navy at the Fair Oaks and Fair Lakes malls, as well as possibly at dressing rooms in Tysons Corner Center. Other shopping centers may be involved as well, police said.
In addition, police said, Rauf made an older series of videos shot up women’s skirts.
“This is a massive case,” said Major Ed O’Carroll, commander of the Major Crimes Bureau, during a Thursday news conference.
Rauf was arrested on Christmas Eve after a young woman reported seeing a black device pointing down at her in the dressing room of a Forever 21 at Fair Oaks Mall around 4 p.m., police said.
The woman alerted store employees, who saw a man leaving the store and called police. Officers searched the mall and located Rauf nearby in the dressing room of an H&M store. Rauf had a pinhole camera, black tape and a Bluetooth wireless transmitter that officers said he was using to gather videos and photos of women from fitting rooms, police said.
Rauf was charged with unlawful filming of a minor, which is a felony. The trove of videos was discovered on Rauf’s cellphone after his arrest, police said. Searches of his home turned up laptops, cameras, thumb drives and other electronic devices that are also being searched.
Police said they had no evidence that Rauf shared any of the videos online.
Police said they believe some of the videos were shot in fitting rooms at the following times and locations:
•Dec. 22: 1:15 to 2:10 p.m. at the Fair Lakes Old Navy
•Dec. 22: 2:50 to 3:20 p.m. at the Fair Oaks Mall H&M
•Dec. 22: 3:40 to 4:15 p.m. at the Fair Oaks Mall Forever 21
•Dec. 22: 4:25 to 5:45 p.m. at the Fair Oaks Mall H&M
•Dec. 22: 9:15 to 10 p.m. at the Tysons Corner Center H&M and Old Navy
•Dec. 24: 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Fair Oaks Mall Forever 21 and H&M
Police have set up a phone line at 703-246-4600 for potential victims to notify detectives.
Rauf is being held without bond at the Fairfax County jail. It could not be determined whether he had retained an attorney. No one answered a phone call to a number listed for him.