Brooklyn Man Indicted for Secretly Filming Patients in Northwell Health Bathrooms
A former employee of the Northwell Health Sleep Disorders Center alleged to have installed a hidden camera in bathrooms at Northwell Health facilities to secretly record patients, has been indicted by the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. Sanjai Syamaprasad, 47, of Brooklyn, NY, is alleged to have hidden a camera in a fake smoke detector, which he installed in public bathrooms at the sleep center and Sports Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Rehabilitation Services of the North Shore (STARS) in Manhasset, NY.
Before his shifts started, Syamaprasad is alleged to have attached the fake smoke detector to walls in multiple public bathrooms using a Velcro disc. At the end of his shift, the fake smoke detector was removed, and the video files were transferred to an SD card to allow the video footage to be viewed. The DA’s Office determined that Syamaprasad purchased the device on August 2, 2022, and used it to secretly record staff and patients at the two facilities between at least July 2023 and April 2024. Northwell Health was made aware of the improper conduct on April 23, 2024, and prevented Syamaprasad from entering Northwell Health facilities. The unlawful activity was reported to the District Attorney the same day.
Syamaprasad is alleged to have captured hundreds of videos of staff and patients, including some children. HE is also alleged to have watched some of the videos on his work computer. According to Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly, Syamaprasad suspected that his actions had been discovered and tried to destroy the evidence of the secret recordings, allegedly breaking up the fake smoke detector and SD card and disposing of them in a trash can at a local CVS pharmacy in Brooklyn. Nassau County police officers were able to recover the material from a dumpster behind the pharmacy.
A search warrant was issued, and on April 25, 2024, law enforcement officers visited Syamaprasad’s Brooklyn home and seized multiple electronic devices, including phones, laptop computers, and an SD card reader. Investigators were able to recover video footage of five identifiable individuals, including a child. Syamaprasad has been charged with five counts of unlawful surveillance in the second degree and two counts of tampering with physical evidence. Syamaprasad pleaded not guilty to all charges. If convicted, he faces between 18 months and 4 years in prison.
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Northwell Health assisted the DA with the investigation and prosecution and was instructed to delay issuing notification letters by law enforcement to avoid jeopardizing the investigation. Notification letters are now being mailed to the potentially affected individuals. Since limited evidence of the recordings was recovered, it is unclear how many times the camera was deployed, which individuals were secretly filmed, and if the camera captured identifying information such as facial images. Consequently, the decision was made to send notification letters to all patients who visited the affected facilities between the date the device was purchased and the date access to Northwell Health facilities was prevented.
The data breach has been reported to the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights separately by North Shore University Hospital Sleep Disorders Center (13,332 individuals), Sports Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Rehabilitation Services of the North Shore, P.L.L.C (6,195 individuals), and NHPP Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (1,353 individuals).
This is the second voyeurism case to be reported by The HIPAA Journal in the last three months. A pharmacist formerly employed by the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) is alleged to have conducted a decade-long spying campaign that included hacking staff members’ home security systems and Internet-enabled cameras in treatment rooms.
