Long Island sleep center employee recorded hundreds of adults, kids in facility's bathrooms, officials say
A Long Island sleep center employee is accused of secretly videotaping hundreds of co-workers and patients, including young children, in bathrooms at a Great Neck health facility.
Sanjai Syamaprasad, of Brooklyn, pleaded not guilty Wednesday in court.
Sleep center employee placed spy camera in 9 bathrooms
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said Syamaprasad installed Velcro dots in nine bathrooms at the Northwell Sleep Disorders Center where he worked and moved around a spy camera, which looked like a smoke detector, with views of showers and even directly over the toilets.
"It's disgusting, and it's sickening. And he's a medical professional, you know. He's supposed to be a sleep therapist," Donnelly said.
Cases could date back to 2022 with hundreds of victims recorded.
Syamaprasad was fired by Northwell last year after a co-worker says they saw him watching the videos at work. He's charged with unlawful surveillance.
He hid his face as he left the courtroom after being indicted.
"He doesn't want himself to be on cameras, but he was fine filming all of these people and children on cameras," Donnelly said.
The defendant is only charged in five incidents so far, says the district attorney. They are reviewing thousands of images from his electronics to try to identify additional victims.
He is also under investigation for similar crimes at a Weill Cornell sleep center in Manhattan.
Current, former sleep center employees join class action lawsuit
Co-workers in court found it hard to listen to.
"I feel sick. I mean, it was humiliating, embarrassing, terribly anxiety-inducing, just sick," former sleep center employee Brenda Pelletieri said.
"He does a lot of pediatric patients, so that literally, like, breaks my heart," sleep center employee Arlenny Linares said.
They have joined a class action suit against Northwell.
"Their negligence in allowing these cameras to be placed there and to stay there and to not removing them," said Joel Rubenstein, an attorney with German Rubenstein LLP.
Northwell Health released the following statement:
"Immediately upon learning of this former employee's inappropriate conduct, we investigated and took immediate action to both remove him from the premises and report the matter to the Nassau County District Attorney's Office. This individual is no longer an employee of Northwell Health and we are grateful for the District Attorney's Office prompt response and thorough investigation of the matter. We have fully cooperated with law enforcement in the course of their investigation. The safety of our patients, visitors, and employees remains our highest priority."
Victims say the worst part is they don't know where all the videos are.
"How can something like this happen? Where you go to work, especially in a hospital institution, you would think you'd feel safe at work," Pelletieri said.
