Pennsylvania Male Nurse Charged with Secretly Recording Female Patients Undressing

According to authorities, a male nurse has been detained after an underage patient undergoing skin treatment realized she was being filmed as she was undressing and reported the incident to staffers at the health facility. Furthermore, the patient that reported the incident was not the only one the perpetrator has secretly taped, police officers say.

The investigation started early last month. Since then, the investigators found enough evidence to charge the male nurse with 43 different counts, including invasion of privacy, filming a sex act involving a child, and endangering the welfare of a child.

On February 13^th, a 17-year-old female patient was undressing in a booth in order to receive a skin treatment at the Penn Medicine Dermatology in Lower Makefield Township. Little did she know everything was being recorded. However, 25 seconds after the patient completely undressed, she was able to see her nude reflection on the screen of a smartphone laying on the ground at her feet that was signaling it was video recording. The patient took the phone and presented it to the health facility’s staff. Investigators concluded the phone belonged to 45-year-old James Close who was practicing nursing at the health facility.

The man was arrested the same day and charged with videotaping the underage patient without her consent. Looking further into the matter, however, investigators found 18 other videos of seven other patients Close had filmed between January 2017 and his mid-February arrest. Police officers said the patients ranged in age from 17 to 70.

Lower Makefield Police Chief added the male nurse had been working for a short while at the clinic. However, investigators are unsure when exactly the man was employed. In light of these events, the University of Pennsylvania overseeing the medical center offered its full cooperation to the authorities, Kenneth Coluzzi stated. Unfortunately, University of Pennsylvania’s spokesperson could not be reached for comment.

At the moment, the male nurse is held on $100,000 bond at the Bucks County Jail. According to official court documents, the man will be arraigned next week. Recently, Penn Medicine Dermatology officials issued a statement apologizing on behalf of its employee, which has since been demitted.

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