Latest news with #probation
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Former Long Island sleep center worker pleads guilty to putting cameras in bathrooms
A former sleep center worker pleaded guilty Tuesday to secretly recording people, including a child, at a Long Island health facility while they were using the bathroom. As CBS News New York's Carolyn Gusoff reports, the judge offered him probation with no jail time.
CBS News
6 hours ago
- CBS News
Former Long Island sleep center worker who put cameras in bathrooms offered probation, no jail time
A former Long Island sleep center worker pleaded guilty Tuesday to secretly recording co-workers and patients, including a child, while they were using bathrooms at a Northwell Health facility. The judge offered him probation with no jail time. Sanjai Syamaprasad, a father from Brooklyn, installed Velcro dots in nine bathrooms at the Northwell Sleep Disorders and STARS Rehabilitation Center where he worked in Manhasset, and used the dots to position a spy camera disguised as a smoke detector in places where it could record the shower and toilet, prosecutors said. Northwell fired Syamaprasad last year after he was caught watching the videos at work, and alerted law enforcement. Prosecutors seized more than 300 videos that recorded body parts of hundreds of people, but based on who they could identify, they were only able to bring charges involving five victims, including a child. Syamaprasad pleaded guilty to unlawful surveillance and evidence tampering. Judge Meryl Berkowitz offered five years probation and sex offender registration, but no jail time, citing Syamaprasad's remorse and completion of a program. Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly had recommended one to three years behind bars for each count. "This case deserved jail time," she said. "It's not a one-off. It's not one time, one night he did this. It was night after night after night, victim after victim after victim." Donnelly says the plea deal sends the wrong message. "This was a massive, massive violation of people's privacy and rights," she said. After the hearing, Syamaprasad bolted out of the courthouse, refusing to answer questions. "It's just very ironic how he can film people sitting on the toilet and in the showers, and then he puts a mask and a hat on and runs out covering his face," former sleep center employee Brenda Pellettieri said. Pellettieri is one of potentially hundreds of victims whose private bathroom moments were secretly recorded. Victims are now part of class action lawsuits against both Syamaprasad and Northwell Health. "It's really destroyed my faith in humanity. You don't trust people," Pellettieri said. "My firm has spoken personally to hundreds and hundreds of victims, and I know they're going to be extremely disappointed that he's not going to be serving any jail time," said John Rubenstein, an attorney with German Rubenstein LLP. Sentencing will be formalized on Sept. 15, when all sides will have an opportunity to speak.
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Rufus King High School teacher pleads guilty to sexual misconduct charge
A former teacher at Rufus King High School pled guilty to sexual misconduct after accusations of inappropriate behavior towards four of her students surfaced earlier this year. Erica Allemang-Reinke, 40, will face 24 months of probation for one felony count of sexual misconduct by a school staff member and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct. Allemang-Reinke also forfeited her teaching license as part of the plea deal. At a July 15 hearing in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, two of the four students who had accused the teacher of misconduct — and two of their parents — testified to the impact the teacher's conduct had on their mental health and educational careers. "The amount of damage Erica has done in my family and to my child, is unmeasurable," Rufus King parent Raylena Windmon said at the hearing. Allemang-Reinke has been a teacher since 2008, and employed at Rufus King since the 2013-14 school year, according to her attorney, Craig Mastantuono. She apologized for her actions during the hearing. "I am so sorry to parents and students that I've hurt," Allemang-Reinke said. "I have been seeking therapy due to this incident, and I've come to the realization that I've had an issue with boundaries. It just has never come into fruition until my 17th year of teaching, due to the fact that I felt more students seem to have more social needs this past year." "It was not my job to fulfill those social needs." On April 21, Allemang-Reinke was charged with four felony counts of sexual misconduct by a school staff member or volunteer. According to the criminal complaint filed in the case, students on the basketball team at Rufus King High School told a school resource officer on April 15 that Allemang-Reinke had been inappropriately contacting them throughout the 2024-25 school year. The north side magnet school's principle communicated to parents on April 16 that a teacher was not working while an investigation was conducted, but did not name Allemang-Reinke. According to the teacher's attorney, Allemang-Reinke found out about the charges filed against her from the news, and she turned herself in to police. According to the complaint, students alleged Allemang-Reinke asked for them to share their phone numbers and locations with her. They claim she sent them cash or gifts, made inappropriate comments and — in one case — touched a student inappropriately. One student also said that Allemang-Reinke offered to perform a sex act with them, which the student declined. When the charges were filed, the four student victims were all between the ages of 16 and 18. As part of a plea deal, Allemang-Reinke pled guilty to the first sexual misconduct charge, and to a lesser second charge of disorderly conduct. The third and fourth sexual misconduct charges were dismissed. She was sentenced to 18 months of initial confinement in prison and an additional two years of extended supervision on the first charge, and 90 days in the Community Reintegration Center on the second charge. However, the judge stayed both sentences, instead placing the former teacher on probation for two years. A "stayed" sentence means the sentence is not imposed as long as certain conditions are met. In this case, those conditions include not contacting any of the victims or Rufus King High School, no unsupervised contact with any individuals under 18 except for relatives, forfeiting her teaching license, undergoing a sex offender assessment and maintaining employment. Allemang-Reinke will also pay restitution to three victims and relatives, totaling $3,004. Mastantuono noted the teacher demonstrated an "extraordinary" amount of cooperation with the law enforcement investigation into the charges against her. After turning herself in for arrest, Allemang-Reinke spent four days in custody. She consented to let Milwaukee Police Department officers search her phone. As of July 15, Allemang-Reinke's teaching license is listed as "under investigation" on the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction registry, as it has been since at least April 22. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Rufus King High School teacher pleads guilty to sexual misconduct
CBS News
11 hours ago
- CBS News
Former Beaver County officer gets probation after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in bystander's death
A former Beaver County police officer was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of a bystander at a shooting scene. Just as trial testimony was set to start Tuesday, 38-year-old John Hawk pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and related offenses for assaulting 48-year-old Kenneth Vinyard, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announced. Prosecutors said Vinyard was a bystander at a shooting scene outside the Walmart in Center Township on Nov. 6, 2022. When he walked up to police to provide potential evidence, prosecutors said Hawk, who was off-duty at the time, confronted Vinyard and pulled him away. Shortly after, prosecutors said Hawk struck Vinyard in the chest and performed a leg-sweep maneuver, knocking Vinyard to the ground. Vinyard, who hit his head on the pavement, died at the hospital. The medical examiner ruled that blunt force trauma and "accompanying stress inflicted by Hawk" contributed to his death, the attorney general's office said. "This sworn officer's actions contributed to the death of a man who was not a threat to anyone at the scene of this shooting," Sunday said in a press release. "My team was fully prepared to try this case, but, after selecting a jury on Monday, we were informed the defendant wished to plead guilty." The trial was scheduled to start on Tuesday, and prosecutors were ready to call up to 15 witnesses. In 2023, Vinyard's estate was awarded nearly $1 million to settle a lawsuit against Center Township and Hawk over his death. The assault was recorded on cell phone video. Deborah Little, Vinyard's sister, told KDKA-TV it's been "absolute hell, torture" since her brother died. She said she thought Hawk should be in prison, saying "he took my brother's life without reason." "Nothing that will happen this week will bring him back, and it won't take away the hurt and the tragedy it has done to our family," Little said. "But I promised him when he died that I would fight until I could fight no more, and that's what I intend to do."
CBC
a day ago
- CBC
Windsor police officer gets 2 years probation in criminal harassment, indecent communications case
Windsor police Const. Joshua Smith received two years of probation in a a criminal harassment case that the court had previously heard included phoning a woman repeatedly over a two-week period, each time not saying anything, but moaning and breathing heavily. The CBC's Jason Viau reports.
