A Long Island special education aide has been arrested and charged for taking lewd photos of a 13-year-old girl in the fitting room of a Target in Selden.
The alleged incident occurred on the afternoon of Oct. 19 when Aqeel Ahmad, 53, “reached his cellphone under the dressing room door and took photos” of the girl as she tried on clothes, Suffolk County police said Wednesday.
According to investigators, the girl’s father witnessed the incident and approached the alleged perv, who fled the store on foot. He was later identified as Ahmad and was arrested Tuesday night in his car in Selden, just down the street from his home.
Ahmad has been charged with unlawful surveillance in the second degree and endangering the welfare of a child. He was arraigned Wednesday in First District Court in Central Islip, where he pleaded not guilty.
He was released with a GPS monitor and several sex offender conditions, including staying away from the school grounds where he worked.
According to police, Ahmad is an employee of the Eastern Suffolk BOCES academic center in Bellport.
“Eastern Suffolk BOCES is aware of the arrest and charges against Aqeel Ahmad, a special education aide at our Brookhaven Learning Center, for alleged inappropriate behavior involving a teenager at a site off of Eastern Suffolk BOCES property,” the school said in a statement to News 12 Long Island.
Ahmad has since been placed on leave and is barred from all BOCES properties.
Authorities are asking the public to contact police if they feel they may have been victimized by Ahmad.
