The staff member arrested on child pornography charges was a former analyst in the information technology office.
Anoushiravan Dadgar was arrested by federal agents earlier this month after a two-year-long investigation found hundreds of files containing child pornography on his personal computer, some involving children younger than 10 years old, according to court documents.
University spokeswoman Maralee Csellar confirmed Dadgar was a University employee. She said Monday that the staffer arrested on child pornography charges was no longer employed by GW.
Dadgar identifies as a senior support analyst in the Division of Information Technology on his LinkedIn profile. He worked on the Virginia Science and Technology Campus, according to the profile.
Dadgar and his attorney Peter Greenspun did not immediately return requests for comment.
Authorities began investigating Dadgar in early 2015 when Scott Stein, a special agent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, traced videos on a file sharing application containing child pornography to Dadgar’s computer, according to court documents.
In February 2016, Stein received a warrant to search Dadgar’s home in Sterling, Va. and seized his laptop, according to the criminal complaint.
During an interview with authorities, Dadgar, who also goes by Anoush, admitted to downloading and viewing child pornography on the computer and estimated that over the past year or two he used the application to download between 50 and 100 files containing child pornography, the complaint states.
“Dadgar stated he searched for child pornography when he was stressed and didn’t have a job for three months,” the complaint said.
He told authorities that he searched phrases like “14 year old,” “15 year old” and “16 year old,” the complaint states.
A law enforcement analysis of the computer revealed he had used a file sharing application to download and share 656 files between September and December of 2015, “an overwhelming majority” of which contained child pornography, according to court documents.
The files contained videos of minors, some appearing to be less than 10 years old, involved in sex acts, according to the compliant.
Stein filed a complaint requesting a warrant for Dadgar’s arrest on April 6.
Dadgar was arrested April 11 and he appeared at a court hearing that day, according to the arrest warrant and court hearing documents. The University Police Department was contacted about Dadgar’s arrest on April 12, according to GW’s crime log.
Dadgar was released on bond on April 13. His next court appearance has not been scheduled.
