Doctors Arrested For Filming Unsuspecting Women In California, New York
Two doctors were arrested in separate incidents in N.Y. and Calif.
August 3, 2012— -- Two doctors, including a prominent plastic surgeon, were busted in Los Angeles and New York in separate incidents this week for filming unsuspecting women.
Dr. Lance Everett Wyatt, a Los Angeles-based plastic surgeon, was arrested Thursday after a patient allegedly noticed a hidden camera in his office while she was disrobing. The woman ran from the office with the camera and turned it over to police, said Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen A. Trutanich.
Wyatt faces four counts of surreptitious filming, one count of batter and one count for inappropriately touching a patient, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney's office.
"Patients deserve to feel safe and secure while in the care of their physician," Trutanich said. "Our charges allege that Dr. Wyatt violated that sacred trust and he should be held accountable."
The Harvard-educated doctor, who has appeared on "The Doctors" and was featured on an episode of ABC News' "20/20" discussing butt augmentations for African-American women, may have more victims, police said.
"There might be additional victims, so anyone who has any information needs to call the California Medical Board," said a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department.
In New York City, Dr. Adam Levinson, a respected urologist at Mount Sinai Hospital, was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly used a pen camera to film up the skirts of two women during rush hour on the subway.
Sheldon Birthwright, who used to be a screener for the Transportation Security Administration, said he spotted Levinson on the subway and noticed he had something that looked like a pen hidden in a rolled-up newspaper as the doctor stood up near a woman in a miniskirt.
"Pen is directly inside [the newspaper], just on the thigh, calmly just moving it around...I guess he was getting different angle shots of whatever he was getting," Birthwright told WABC.
Once he realized what Levinson was allegedly doing, Birthwright alerted officers, who arrested Levinson.
"It could have been anybody. It could have been my sisters, my pastor's wife, my aunts," Birthwright said. "I'm just thankful that he was caught."
Levinson has been suspended from his position at Mt. Sinai during the pending investigation, the hospital said in a statement.
Neither doctor has had any complaints filed against them, according to online records.
They also appeared to be popular with patients. Both scored high marks in the trust category on HealthGrades.com, a site that allows patients to review their doctors.