Former University student David Solomon, 26, was arrested Jan. 27 at his home in Reston, Va. by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department. He was charged with two counts of unauthorized filming, one count of attempted unauthorized filming and five counts of possession of child pornography.
The arrest was the culmination of a six-month investigation of Solomon initiated by the Airports Authority Police Department at Dulles International Airport, the MWAAPD said in a press release Friday. The investigation began after a passenger "suspected an airport employee was attempting to ... videotape up the passenger's fiancee's skirt as they were riding an escalator at the airport," according to the press statement.
The suspect was an employee at the Borders bookstore in the airport, confirmed Courtney Mickalonis, spokesperson for the Airports Authority.
Detectives discovered evidence of child pornography as well as unauthorized filming on the suspect's computers while searching his residence in Reston.
Solomon attended the University in 2006 and 2007. He was charged and convicted of three counts of unlawful filming in May 2007, according to information available on the Albemarle County General District Court's website.
University Police Lt. Melissa Fielding defined the specifics of unlawful filming.
"It is unlawful to film or photograph an individual ... who is either partially clothed or wearing no clothing at all ... without his or her knowledge [or] consent," Fielding said in an e-mail.
Prior to 2008, the law that dealt with unlawful filming in Virginia treated all offenses the same, processing all subsequent offenses as misdemeanors.
University Police Sgt. Chris Easton said he knew of Solomon when he attended the University, but Easton was "unable to give out criminal history information" on individual students.
Easton said he was not pleased with the law treating all offenses of unlawful filming as "misdemeanors no matter how many times you do it." He helped draft a proposal for the General Assembly to change the law.
The revision was approved by the General Assembly and treats all third offenses of unlawful filming as Class 6 felonies. It took effect July 1, 2008.
"It was a kind of situation where it was something that I felt needed to be changed, so I took action and was successful with it," Easton said.
Fielding advised members of the University community to "be alert and aware of their surroundings," adding that "unlawful filming can occur in many environments, including crowded places where members of the public are wearing attire that allows for filming under the skirt or down a blouse"
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