Las Vegas dentist accused of recording women in bathroom

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Las Vegas dentist accused of recording women in bathroom

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/feb/23/las-vegas-dentist-accused-filming-women-bathroom/

By Cara McCoy

Updated Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010 | 5:40 p.m.



A Las Vegas dentist is facing charges after allegedly setting up a video camera in his practice’s bathroom and capturing images of a female employee and another woman in various states of undress.

Dr. Mahesh Patel, 45, is charged with one count of capturing the image of the private area of another person, a gross misdemeanor. Jail records indicate he was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on Monday.

According to a Metro Police report, after a female employee at the Advanced Center for Dentistry, 770 Warm Springs Road, reported to work on Jan. 11, Patel, her employer, requested her assistance with a scheduled procedure and asked her to change into her scrubs, the woman told an investigating officer.

The woman said she went into a unisex bathroom and began to change her clothes. As she bent at the waist, she noticed an object in a tissue holder. Upon further examination, she saw the object had a switch labeled “record.” She told the officer she then realized the device was a video camera; she switched the power off, removed it from the tissue holder and kept it with her, according to the police report.

The woman then went to perform the procedure with Patel. She said she noticed that during the procedure, he was “acting funny.” After the procedure was completed, Patel confronted the woman and asked where the device was, the woman told police. The woman said she asked Patel if the device belonged to him, to which he replied affirmatively. He said the device must have fallen out of his pocket, police said.

The woman said she found the device in a tissue box and that it wasn’t on the floor. Patel then apologized and said he had hidden the device so he could spy on her, the report said. The woman refused to return the device and tried to leave the building, but Patel “blocked the doorway, and continued to beg for the device back,” the report stated.