Long Island sleep clinician Sanjai Syamaprasad to serve 6 months in jail after admitting installing secret cameras at clinic

A former Manhasset sleep clinician who admitted planting hidden cameras in bathrooms to spy on patients was sentenced to 6 months in the county correctional center on Thursday in Mineola.

Sanjai Syamaprasad, 48, apologized for the spying and said he was glad to move on with his life before he was taken away by court officers.

"I apologize for everyone," Syamaprasad told State Supreme Court Justice Meryl Berkowitz shortly before she handed down the sentence.

Syamaprasad, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty in July to five counts of unlawful surveillance for secreting cameras inside smoke detectors and recording patients on the toilet at the Northwell Health Sleep Disorders Center.

He also pleaded guilty to two counts of tampering with evidence after he burned memory cards that prosecutors believe held recordings from the clinic and tossed the fake smoke detectors.

Syamaprasad’s attorney, Julie Rendelman, did not comment on the sentence after Thursday’s hearing.

Berkowitz said in July that Syamaprasad’s sentence would not include incarceration, but she changed her mind since then.

Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly said prosecutors recommended a sentence of 7 to 21 years in state prison. Authorities were able to identify five victims, but there may be hundreds — if not thousands — more. One of the victims, Donnelly said, was a minor.

"For what he did in this case, and the number of victims, I think he should have gotten an upstate sentence," said Donnelly, who called the defendant "a creep."

Syamaprasad returns to court on Dec. 16 for a hearing to determine what level sex offender he should be registered as.

Prosecutors said Syamaprasad, a former employee at the Northwell Health Sleep Disorders Center in Great Neck, affixed hidden cameras made to look like smoke detectors on the walls of staff and patient bathrooms in the sleep center from July 2023 to April 2024. He also placed a camera in a public restroom at STARS Rehabilitation, located in the same building.

The cameras recorded thousands of people while they were using the bathrooms, according to prosecutors.

"We are deeply disturbed by the unauthorized criminal actions taken by Sanjai Syamaprasad, who betrayed the trust of patients and his co-workers," Northwell said in a statement to Newsday. "As soon as we became aware of this former employee's misconduct, we notified the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office and have fully cooperated with them throughout their investigation and prosecution of Syamaprasad. We expect all of our team members to respect and value patient privacy, and our commitment to our patients’ dignity and safety remains unwavering."

The clinic, which has nine patient rooms with en-suite bathrooms, treats adults and children for a variety of sleep disorders. As part of their treatment, patients are aware they must be recorded while they sleep, but they are informed of the areas that are under observation from signs on the walls, according to Joel Rubenstein, a civil lawyer representing the workers and patients of the clinic in civil litigation.

A woman who attended the sentencing but declined to identify herself, said her young son was one of the people recorded by Syamaprasad, and said she felt sorry for the defendant.

"I think he is very sick but how could you get angry at a sick person?" she said. "He needs help, something is going on that caused him to do this. I am angry, also, at the facility for not even knowing that this was going on. That’s where my anger really stems, because how do they not know?"

Another clinician saw Syamaprasad watching a man on the toilet of one of the patient rooms on April 24, 2023, and reported him immediately to her supervisors, according to a criminal complaint. Northwell told authorities about Syamaprasad’s illegal cameras, but before Nassau police could question him, he destroyed evidence.