N.Y. Doctor Charged with Hiding Cameras in Hospital Bathroom

The charges against the doctor were dropped.

April 21, 2016 CS Staff

Update: A judge agreed to clear the charges against Dr. Jeffrey Gould if he stays out of trouble for six months, according to syracuse.com.

“It’s a shame that a lapse of judgment in a single moment has consequences for a young man’s career that he’s worked very hard to achieve,” said Gould’s lawyer, Edward Z. Menkin. “I’m grateful to the DA’s office that they recognized this was not a crime.”

Police say a doctor admitted to hiding two discrete cameras in a unisex bathroom at the Syracuse, N.Y. hospital he worked at.

Dr. Jeffrey Gould, 32, was charged with one count of unlawful surveillance for hiding two cameras in the Intensive Care Unit bathroom of Crouse Hospital in February, according to Syracuse.com.

Gould, who claims he hid the cameras to catch a thief, was fired by the hospital as a result of the charges. Gould was an Upstate University Hospital employee working a rotation at Crouse.

A custodian first noticed the two “spy pens” taped to the ridge of a trash can and a toilet paper dispenser and alerted hospital security, who called police.

When questioned by detectives, Gould at first denied that he planted the cameras, although he said he noticed the camera in the trash can but didn’t report it.

The doctor eventually admitted the spy pens were his when police confronted him with footage from his apartment on the cameras.

Gould said someone had stolen his GoPro camera and his prescription of Adderall in the conference room of the Intensive Care Unit on Feb. 28, and he planted the cameras in an attempt to catch the thief.

“Gould claimed he decided to order these ‘spy pens’ and secrete them in the Crouse Hospital ICU restroom in order to catch the thief,” Syracuse Police Officer Peter Payne wrote. “Gould believed that the thief was possibly a fellow co-worker and he’d catch him using his Adderall in the restroom.”

“This was terrible judgment in an effort to apprehend someone who had stolen his property,” Gould’s lawyer Edward Z. Menkin said. ““He had no intent whatsoever of invading anyone’s privacy, except to catch a thief.”

The cameras were not facing the toilet and none of the footage from the cameras shows anyone’s private areas. No one can be identified in the footage either, according to police.

The charge against Gould carries a penalty of up to four years in prison.

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