'Sickening,' Patients At Sleep Center Recorded In Bathrooms: DA

MINEOLA, NY — A man has been indicted on charges connected to installing a hidden camera inside a fake smoke detector in public bathrooms at a sleep center in Manhasset, prosecutors said.

Sanjai Syamaprasad, 47, was arraigned following a grand jury indictment that includes five counts of second-degree unlawful surveillance and two counts of tampering with physical evidence, Nassau County D.A. Anne Donnelly said.

He pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance. He is due back in court on June 12.

“The allegations against this defendant are sickening and disturbing. Sanjai Syamaprasad allegedly used hidden cameras secreted in smoke detectors to capture hundreds of videos of patients in bathrooms at a sleep and rehabilitation center, including children," Donnelly said. "In a further violation, the defendant allegedly even watched some of the videos on his computer while at work. Knowing that law enforcement was closing in, the defendant allegedly tried to cover his tracks, breaking up and disposing of the memory card to destroy any evidence of the recordings."

Between at least July 2023 and April 2024, Syamaprasad, a former employee of the Northwell Health Sleep Disorders Center in Manhasset, allegedly affixed a hidden camera made to look like a smoke detector using Velcro discs on the walls inside the staff and multiple patient bathrooms within the sleep center, and in a public bathroom at STARS Rehabilitation, located in the same building as the sleep center, Donnelly said.

Throughout this time period, the cameras captured recordings of approximately hundreds of people while they were using the bathrooms, Donnelly said. Based on images recovered and reviewed by Nassau D.A. investigators, five people were identified on the videos, including a child, prosecutors said.

On April 25, 2024, a search warrant was executed on Syamaprasad's home in Brooklyn and multiple electronics such as phones, an SD card reader, and three laptops were recovered, Donnelly said.

Investigators learned that he allegedly destroyed evidence, throwing the smoke detector camera and the broken-up SD card into a trash can at a local CVS pharmacy in Brooklyn. The smoke detector camera was ultimately recovered from a dumpster behind the store by a Nassau County Police Department detective, Donnelly said.

If convicted, Syamaprasad faces up to 1-1/3 to four years in prison.