Dentist accused of videotaping women in bathroom to plead guilty

By Dave Toplikar

Friday, June 11, 2010 | 3:05 p.m.

A Las Vegas dentist charged in connection with videotaping a female employee and another woman in various stages of undress in his practice's bathroom has entered a plea agreement to stay out of jail.

Dr. Mahesh Patel, 45, waived his right to a preliminary hearing Friday, and has agreed to plead guilty to a gross misdemeanor charge of capturing the image of the private area of another person, according to Clark County Justice of the Peace Melanie Tobiasson.

Tobiasson said, as part of the deal, prosecutors would not oppose probation for Patel when he goes for sentencing. Patel's next court date is June 28 before Clark County District Judge Valerie J. Vega.

According to a Metro Police report, the charge results from an incident on Jan. 11 at Patel's office, the Advanced Center for Dentistry, 770 Warm Springs Road.

The report said that a female employee at the dentist office arrived for work that day and Patel, her employer, asked her assistance with a scheduled procedure and asked her to change into her scrubs.

The woman told police as she changed clothes, she noticed a device in a tissue holder, noticed it was a video camera, switched it off and took it from the bathroom.

Later, after the dentistry procedure was completed, Patel confronted the woman and asked where the device was, the woman told police. The woman told officers Patel admitted the camera was his and must have fallen out of his pocket.

Eventually, Patel apologized to her and said he had hidden the device so he could spy on her, police reported.

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.

The woman contacted her husband. She then went home, where she viewed what was on the memory card and saw images of herself undressing, according to the report. She went to a police station to report what had happened.

According to the arrest report, police obtained a search warrant and found video evidence of Patel setting up the recorder and placing it at an angle that showed the toilet area. They also obtained footage of the reporting employee and a second, unidentified woman in states of undress in the restroom.