Sanjai Syamaprasad, 47 years old, from Brooklyn, NY is an ex-employee of the Northwell Health Sleep Disorders Center who was indicted by the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. Allegedly, Syamaprasad set up a hidden camera in a bathroom’s fake smoke detector at Northwell Health facilities to covertly record patients. He mounted cameras in public toilets at the sleep center and Sports Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Rehabilitation Services of the North Shore (STARS) located in Manhasset, NY.
Before Syamaprasad’s shifts, he allegedly used Velcro discs to fasten fake smoke detectors to walls in several public toilets. After his shift, he removed the fake smoke detector and transferred the video files to an SD card to watch the video footage. The DA’s Office confirmed that Syamaprasad bought the device on August 2, 2022, and covertly recorded hospital employees and patients at the two places from July 2023 to April 2024. Northwell Health knew about the inappropriate action on April 23, 2024, and stopped Syamaprasad from stepping inside Northwell Health facilities. The illegal activity report was submitted to the District Attorney on the same day.
Syamaprasad is claimed to have taken countless videos of employees and patients, which include children. HE is likewise alleged to have seen several of the videos on his work PC. As per Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly, Syamaprasad thought that his activities had been found out and attempted to destroy the proof of the videos, purportedly destroying the phony smoke detector and SD card and throwing them in a garbage can at a Brooklyn CVS pharmacy. Nassau County policemen were able to retrieve the evidence from a dumpster at the back of the pharmacy.
On April 25, 2024, law enforcement officials came to Syamaprasad’s Brooklyn home with a search warrant and seized several gadgets, including cell phones, laptops, and an SD card reader. The detectives recovered the video of five recognizable people, including a kid. Syamaprasad was accused of five counts of illegal monitoring in the second degree and two counts of meddling with physical evidence. Syamaprasad did not admit any of the charges. If found guilty, he will be sentenced to 18 months up to 4 years in jail.
Northwell Health helped the DA during the investigation and prosecution. Law enforcement instructed Northwell Health to delay sending notification letters to avoid putting the investigation at risk. Notification letters are currently being sent to the likely affected persons. Because minimal proof of the recordings was retrieved, it is not clear how many times Syamaprasad deployed the camera, which people was covertly shot, and if the camera snagged identifying data such as facial images. Therefore, as required by the HIPAA Breach Notification Law, Northwell Health decided to send breach notification letters to all patients who went to get treatment from the impacted facilities from the time the device was bought and the time Northwell Health facilities’ access was blocked.
The data breach report was submitted to the HHS Office for Civil Rights individually by the affected entities. North Shore University Hospital Sleep Disorders Center reported that the breach affected 13,332 individuals, Sports Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Rehabilitation Services of the North Shore, P.L.L.C reported 6,195 affected individuals, and NHPP Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation reported 1,353 affected individuals.
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