Chevy Chase Landlord Pleads Guilty to Spying on Tenants

A Chevy Chase man pleaded guilty Tuesday to three misdemeanor charges relating to allegations that he used hidden video cameras to secretly record three tenants while they were undressed, The Washington Post reported.

Dennis Van Dusen, 64, "created 'a stage to exercise his prurient intent of watching these young women,' prosecutor Stephen Chaikin said in Montgomery County Circuit Court," The Post reported.

Van Dusen represented himself in Montgomery County Circuit Court in Rockville, ABA Journal reported.

Van Dusen—a lawyer and high-tech entrepreneur, WUSA9 reported—rented out three rooms of his Ridgewood Avenue, Chevy Chase, home to three women. Last October, one of the women and her boyfriend discovered that what they had thought was a smoke alarm on the ceiling of her room was actually a hidden camera, according to The Post.

Police found " 'sexually/nude videos' of the three tenants and their boyfriends" on Van Dusen's computer, The Post added.

"Two of the renters have filed civil suits against Van Dusen, seeking a total of $5.5 million dollars in punitive and compensatory damages," The Gazette reported.

Van Dusen's sentencing takes place in July. He will be released from custody on $5,000 bail, and has been ordered not to rent out rooms in his house, WUSA9 reported.

Van Dusen charged his tenants "below-market rents of less than $600. The average rent surrounding the house on 6910 Ridgewood Ave. is $2,000. In October 2007, the property was assessed at $1,133,092," Huff Post DC reported.

Van Dusen's resume claims that he has degrees from Harvard and Penn State.