The actions of a prosecutor in California are under review after he used his 13-year-old daughter as bait to catch a man who had allegedly sexually assaulted her three times before.

The unidentified prosecutor at the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office had planned for his daughter to walk the same trail where she said the man had molested her, according to a police report obtained by BuzzFeed News.

The prosecutor directed his teenage daughter to let the suspect touch her if if she encountered him but to move away if he touched her breasts or between her legs, states the document, which was first reported by the Mercury News.

He then recorded the interaction between the suspect and his daughter and handed the videos over to police, who arrested 76-year-old Ali Mohammad Lajmiri the next day on Nov. 12.

Lajmiri was charged with multiple felony counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 and false imprisonment. He is being held at Santa Clara County Jail in lieu of $3 million bail.

In a note to his staff on Monday, Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosen said his office was conducting an internal review concerning “the actions of one of our prosecutors and the arrest of a man for sexually assaulting the prosecutor’s daughter.”



Due to the conflict of interest, the California Attorney General’s Office is handling the case.



“The moment we became aware of this matter, we took immediate action, referring it to the Attorney General’s Office and initiating our own internal review,” said Rosen’s note, which was provided to BuzzFeed News. “As prosecutors, we must never forget that our own behavior – inside and outside of the courtroom – matters. The choices we make in our professional and personal lives need to be in harmony with the protocols, laws, and ethics of our criminal justice system. Swirling media attention, talk, opinions, and gossip can lead people to forget that at the heart of this matter is a young victim.”

Lajmiri approached the teenage girl around five times between August and September while she walked her dog on the Los Alamitos Trail, the San Jose Police Department said in a news release.



The suspect first approached the girl to pet her dog. But he allegedly touched her inappropriately during three other encounters, including rubbing his hands on her waist and on top of her breast over her clothing, placing his hands inside the collar of her shirt, and brushing his hand against her thigh and buttock over her clothing.