Harvard Law librarian arrested on trip to meet ‘teenage girl’
She was actually a police officer
A Harvard librarian has been arrested after traveling to Colorado to have sex with someone he thought was a teenage girl.
He eventually realized he had been talking to a police officer.
Yahya Hussein Ahmad Melhem, 47, was arrested on charges of attempted sexual exploitation of a child, Internet sexual exploitation of a child, Internet luring of a child and attempted child sexual assault.
He has been released on a $10,000 bail.
Melhen is no longer employed at Harvard Law, spokesperson Michelle Deakin said.
Yahya Hussein Ahmad Melhem (Gilpin County Sheriff’s Office)
Colorado Police arrested Melhem in a sting where a deputy posed as a teenager, according to the sheriff’s office.
Earlier this month, a male officer was on a social networking site portraying himself as a teen when Melhem allegedly exchanged messages with him thinking he was a young girl.
The affidavit said Melhem texted the “girl” that he would rent a car and drive to the town of Black Hawk to meet her.
It added that he wrote a message asking her to show him “her intimate body parts via webcam” and sent a sexually graphic video of himself.
He was arrested when he arrived in a rented vehicle and due back in court on November 30.
Melhem had worked as a librarian for Islamic Law at Harvard Law School, according to staff directories. He was in Denver to attend the Middle Eastern Islamic Librarian conference, said the affidavit.