A North Hills cardiologist who hid a camera in the bathroom of his office has been sentenced to 45 days in jail and has been forced to forfeit his medical license.
Vincent Pacienza, 54, convicted in June for the second-degree felony charge of unlawful surveillance, was sentenced Jan. 21 in district court to 45 days in jail and five years probation.
According to Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, Pacienza was found guilty of illegally installing a hidden camera in the office bathroom in Manhasset on Plandome Road to secretly view patients and employees without their knowledge.
“This defendant committed a deplorable act by putting his employees and patients on display,” Rice said. “For a doctor to misuse his profession and the trust of his employees to sexually exploit them is unconscionable.”
Pacienza, a resident of Links Drive in North Hills, was convicted after a bench trial before Judge William Donnino. Pacienza surrendered his medical license last year following his conviction.
Prosecutors had recommended that Pacienza serve six months in jail, five years probation and also register as a level one sex offender.
Rice said that in June 2008, Pacienza, a cardiologist, told some of his female employees that he would be installing an air purifier in the office restroom that was shared by both employees and patients. Pacienza also closed down the employees-only bathroom, forcing employees and patients in the office to use the bathroom with the air purifier.
The air purifier, which faced the toilet, contained a hidden wireless camera with a direct video feed to a monitor underneath Pacienza’s desk. The camera was discovered that same month when an employee opening the office mail discovered an invoice to Pacienza for the hidden camera and air purifier from a website specializing in surveillance equipment.
Pacienza was arrested on June 13, 2008, by detectives from the Nassau County Police Department’s Sixth Squad. Police officers and the NCPD Electronics Squad executed a search warrant and recovered a wireless transmitting camera, a receiver and monitor.
