On Wednesday, senior counterterrorism official Daniel Rosen pleaded guilty to eleven charges of voyeurism and stalking, following his arrest in an online sting operation designed to catch sexual predators who take advantage of teenagers.
Acting U.S. Attorney Vincent Cohen, as quoted by the New York Daily News, said:
Daniel Rosen crept through alleys and peered through windows to secretly film women during intimate, private moments in their own homes. This week, he admitted to being a serial stalker and voyeur who robbed women of the privacy they expected in their own bedrooms and bathrooms.
According to The Washington Times, over the course of a three-year stalking career, Rosen accumulated “40 videotapes of women recorded in various states of undress” on his cell phone. The police say he taped at least 24 different women and could have been facing up to 34 separate criminal charges.
His general strategy was to take his dog for a walk as a cover, then he would peep through the windows of basement-level apartments facing into isolated alleys for targets.
“In many instances, the women had blinds or window shades drawn, but Rosen would aim his cellphone to take video through cracks,” The Washington Times relates. “The videos include one of a woman reading a book in her bathtub; another victim was recorded three separate times as she walked around her home naked; and another was videotaped as she undressed to take a shower.”
The New York Daily News adds that Rosen “filmed one topless woman for 27 minutes as she shared a sexually explicit video chat with her boyfriend.”
In one of those details no one really wanted to know, the police said Rosen “can be heard breathing heavily in a rhythmic manner” in some of the videos.
It wasn’t actually Rosen’s stalking and videotaping that got him busted by the police. The Washington Post delivers the story of his arrest:
He is still facing an outstanding charge of soliciting a juvenile in connection with the Fairfax County case. A search warrant in Fairfax County Circuit Court said a man believed to be Rosen responded to an online ad in November 2014 that was posted by a detective posing as a teen.
It read: “No School!!!! Mon and Tues are teacher workdays!!! My parents will be at work, come entertain me. … Ask my real age if interested … ;)”
The responder wrote that he would “love to” if the poster was into older men, according to the search warrant. The man described himself as a “sane and clean” 40-year-old and sent along a photo of a man in a suit.
The meeting never occurred, but Rosen was eventually arrested. A preliminary hearing in that case is scheduled for Sept. 29.
Rosen is reportedly looking at up to 11 years in prison and an $11,000 fine. He has been placed on administrative leave by the State Department, and his security clearance has been revoked. (None of the media reports I’ve seen specify whether it is paid administrative leave, but that is what usually happens in Washington.) The Washington Post says his LinkedIn profile described him as “the director of counterterrorism, plans, programs and policy for the State Department,” commanding a $300 million budget and a staff of over 20.
Rosen’s wife has been standing behind him, going so far as to write an apologetic email to the neighborhood after his arrest. His lawyer says he is receiving treatment for mental health problems, and entered the guilty plea so he could “get a grip on his life.”