'Disappointment and disgust': Indian-origin man in US avoids jail, pleads guilty to filming 13,000 patients through spy camera disguised as smoke detector
Sanjai Syamaprasad, a 48-year-old Indian-origin hospital worker in Long Island, pleaded guilty to having filmed as many as 13,000 patients and staff in the restrooms by placing secret camera disguised as a smoke detector.
But despite his heinous crime, he was not given jail time as he pleaded guilty.
Sanjai Syamaprasad, a Brooklyn father and a former sleep tech who used to work at sleep disorder facilities, will only get five years of probation. His original plea was not guilty on five counts of unlawful surveillance and two counts of tampering with evidence, but he changed his plea.
He was caught watching bathroom footage on his phone at work by his coworkers and was then fired by Northwell Sleep Disorders last year.
Prosecutors seized more than 300 videos that recorded body parts of hundreds of people, but based on who they could identify, they were only able to bring charges involving five victims, including a child, CBS News reported.
Sanjai installed velcro dots in nine bathrooms and used the dots to position the spy camera where it could record the shower and toilet.
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly had recommended one to three years behind bars for each count.
'My reaction to five years probation is disappointment and disgust — this case deserved jail time,' she said. 'What he did, the number of people he exposed — over 300 plus videos we have — and you treat that with probation? I think it's wrong and that's why I was recommending upstate jail time.'
"This was a massive, massive violation of people's privacy and rights," she said, adding that the plea deal sent a wrong message.
Syamaprasad worked the overnight shift at the Northwell Sleep Disorders Center in Manhasset between July 2023 and April 2024 and filmed thousands of both patients and co-workers, some multiple times — and he may have bought his first covert recording device as early as August 2022, officials said.
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