Jail for cardiologist who used spy camera

A cardiologist convicted of installing a spy camera in the bathroom of his Manhasset office to secretly watch female employees was sentenced Friday to 45 days in the Nassau County Jail and 5 years' probation.

Dr. Vincent Pacienza, 56, of North Hills, will start serving his sentence Monday. He was convicted last June on a felony charge of second-degree unlawful surveillance.

Prosecutors had asked acting State Supreme Court Justice William Donnino to sentence Pacienza to 6 months in jail plus probation and to require him to register as a sex offender, but the judge declined.

The state Office of Professional Medical Conduct has suspended Pacienza's license for one year.

Before sentencing, Pacienza said, "I'm very, very sorry for the terrible mistake that I made."

Pacienza's attorney, Dennis Lemke of Mineola, said he plans to appeal.

In June 2008, Pacienza installed an air purifier that concealed a video camera in the office bathroom used by his patients and employees. He aimed it at the toilet and hooked up a TV monitor beneath his desk to receive the video feed from the camera, prosecutors said.

One of Pacienza's employees, Deborah Schubert of New Hyde Park, found an invoice from a surveillance equipment website for the camera kit while opening office mail. She and other employees notified police.

"I think for what he did this is an appropriate sentence," Schubert said outside of court. Three other former employees attended the sentencing. They and Schubert have filed a civil suit against Pacienza.

"This defendant committed a deplorable act by putting his employees and patients on display," said District Attorney Kathleen M. Rice. "For a doctor to misuse his profession and the trust of his employees to sexually exploit them is unconscionable."