A former Northwell Health employee charged with illegally recording patients in a Northwell Health Manhasset sleep center bathroom pleaded guilty in court Tuesday.
Sanjai Syamaprasad, 48, entered a guilty plea on Tuesday, July 15, before Judge Meryl Berkowitz to five counts of unlawful surveillance and two counts of tampering with physical evidence.
Syamaprasad initially pleaded not guilty to these charges when he was indicted on April 16.
“Patients who enter medical facilities expect and deserve their privacy to be protected, especially inside of sensitive locations like bathrooms,” said Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly after Syamaprasad pleaded guilty. “This defendant, a medical professional himself, violated the trust that patients hold in these institutions and the people who care for them with his sickening behavior.”
Between July 2023 and April 2024, Syamaprasad allegedly installed cameras that looked like smoke detectors in multiple public and staff bathrooms at Northwell’s Sleep Disorder Center and the STARS Rehabilitation Center in the same Manhasset medical building, according to Donnelly’s office.
Syamaprasad was arrested by the Nassau County District Attorney investigators on April 25, 2024. On the same day, a search warrant was executed on his Brooklyn home. Multiple electronics such as phones, an SD card reader and three laptops were recovered, according to Donnelly’s office. An investigation found that Syamaprasad destroyed evidence and threw away the SD cards and camera he had used in a CVS dumpster.
“Syamaprasad shamelessly and creepily played back the videos he created of patients on his work computer – both adults and children –until he was discovered by a co-worker and terminated by Northwell, and later, tried to destroy the evidence of his crimes,” Donnelly said. “Sanjai Syamaprasad wanted to hide in the shadows while he exposed patients at their most vulnerable, but now it is his disgusting conduct and guilt that are laid bare for everyone to see.”
Last month, patients and staff filed a personal injury lawsuit with Sokolove Law against Syamaprasad. The firm said Northwell notified over 13,000 people who had been affected by Syamaprasad’s actions.
Syamaprasad is expected to receive five years’ probation. The district attorney recommends a sentence of seven to 21 years.
He is due back in court on Sept. 15.
