(zipsonic)
Looking back on it all, perhaps it was a bit suspicious to have a male CVS employee insist on checking out a bathroom to make sure it was “all clear” before a female customer used it. Cops say a man working the pharmacy counter used that excuse to plant an iPhone in between rolls of toilet paper, and subsequently film dozens of women.
According to the Times Union, police say an Albany College of Pharmacy student who was doing his internship at the pharmacy planted the phone and hit record after a customer asked him whether the bathroom was open.
A 60-year-old woman spotted the phone behind the toilet paper and thought it must’ve been left there accidentally by a fellow customer, so she turned it in to the front counter. While she was handing it over, she saw it was still recording.
Another employee watched the video and saw the alleged perp set up the camera before placing it in its hiding spot. Court records say the pharmacy worker told cops he’d made around 30 recordings in that bathroom since he got the phone in October, and stored the photos on his laptop. So why did he choose to peep?
“It’s the thrill of not getting caught,” he apparently told cops. Thrill ended, it seems, as he was charged with unlawful surveillance and immediately fired from CVS.
UPDATE — Albany College of Pharmacy issued the below statement regarding the student:
“We take this matter very seriously. We have strong policies in place that prohibit the alleged behavior, and we are taking prompt and appropriate action, which could include probation, suspension, or expulsion.”
Cops: CVS intern videotaped women [Times Union]
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Since when is this illegal?
Worried about your favorite hobby?
People have a legal expectation of privacy in restrooms. If you don’t believe it, I suggest trying this yourself and seeing what happens when you get caught.
I imagine it falls under wiretapping laws.
The customer then had to wait 45 minutes while another pharmacist put 12 pills in a bottle and printed a label.
Hey! Pill counting is serious business!!
That’s if you’re the only person waiting. If not you might as well call the order in ahead of time and come back a few hours later
45 mins is nothing – I’ve waited longer for the pharmacist to put an inhaler in a bag and hand it to me.
Counting to one is a demanding task.
Oh, is that all they do? I had no idea.
Try 6+ hours with the doctor’s office calling it in.
Oooh — does it upload the pics with Instagram?
Oh sepia!
Apparently this clown has a hard time getting laid or dates for that matter. Now we know why.
Consumerist Tip: Check all public bathrooms for recording devices.
Eh heh heh… Harmacy….
A CVS with a bathroom customers can use?! Where is this mecca?
Upstate NY. You do NOT want to live there.
TRUST ME, I lived in the Albany area for work last year.
Hey now, 17% of the Consumerist staff lives in Albany and…. yeah, you still don’t want to move here.
There are 5.88 people working at Consumerist?
6. I rounded up.
The only catch is that someone’s gotta see ya tinkle.
All of the former Eckerd’s stores which CVS gobbled up.
iPhone? More like a “pPhone” amiright???
Seems a shame to throw away a whole career away for some peeping tomism.
I’m sure if that were the US, he’d also be on the sex offender list as well.
because what he did is excusable?
Um, read the article? It is in the U.S
probably a “Albany is so far north it’s canada” joke
Wow, an entire career (not to mention hefty tuition) flushed down the drain before it even started. He’ll never get a pharmacy job, anywhere.
He’ll probably get booted out of pharmacy school too. They tend to frown on inappropriate behavior.
I was waiting for the question “Did you ever find a recording device in your restroom?”
Just to be clear, an iPhone doesn’t “film” anything.
Likewise, I’m sure nobody’s had an actual sex *TAPE* in quite a while, since it’s all digital. minor pet peeve.
colloquialisms: They’re heaps-o-fun!
George Carlin would have had fun with that
I’m going to have to start dressing as a woman and visit public bathrooms just to grab all the free digital equipment!
I just realized that in a case like this, if I found an iPhone recording me in a public bathroom, one of two things would happen. I’d either have a free iPhone, or the person recording would have a very broken one, dumped in the toilet with whatever I could manage to excrete. I haven’t decided what I would do yet.
Free Iphone. No question.
Humm…it’s not like he could report it stolen and then try to get it back without risking public ridicule…there might even be some blackmail money in it!
Ok, if an Iphone is found recording, it gets broken. If its stand alone digital recording equipment it gets pawned.
So what is the thrill about watching someone use the toilet? It’s not like you can see very much, I mean someone pulls their pants down, sits down, does the duty, and pulls pants back up.
You can see more on cable TV.
Hopefully the ‘additional charges’ will include an additional count for every image or video found on his laptop.
I hope he enjoys his new ‘career’ as a felon in prison.
Maybe the employee was just implementing the next phase of their automatic-refill phone calls.
Ah, CVS. When are they going to be nominated for Worst Company in America? Or have they been and I’ve missed it?
Because I would vote for them as I hate them with the passion of 1000 fiery white hot suns. Or nuns.
Ah, a fellow CVS hater…
If your drug store sells homeopathic “medicine” …. I don’t trust anything that comes out of your drug store.
It’s refreshing that he was at least honest with the cops about what he was doing and how many times he did it, though it makes me wonder… if he was willing to do something like that for the thrill, was he also willing to mess with peoples prescriptions?
“We take this matter very seriously. We have strong policies in place that prohibit the alleged behavior, and we are taking prompt and appropriate action, which could include probation, suspension, or expulsion.”
No “Taking it seriously” tag? Come on, Consumerist.
This must happen alot if they had to develop a policy to cover it.