Nurse admits hiding camera in Ellis bathroom

PHOTOGRAPHER: Steven Cook

A former registered nurse at Ellis Hospital admitted Friday to hiding a video camera in an employee bathroom to videotape hospital employees.

With the admission comes an agreed-upon prison sentence of 1 to 3 years.

The Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office said Paul Bourdeau, 45, of Union Street, pleaded guilty in Schenectady County Court to one count of second-degree unlawful surveillance, a felony. He pleaded guilty as his trial was expected to begin next week.

In addition to serving prison time, he will also be required to register as a sex offender.

Key to the prosecution, District Attorney Robert Carney said in a statement, was the willingness of the victims to come forward and testify they did not give anyone permission to record images of them in the bathroom.

“Maybe Mr. Bourdeau was counting on them to remain silent, but their courage stands in start contrast to his underhanded and perverse behavior,” Carney’s statement read.

The investigation began in November, after an employee spotted the device and alerted hospital officials. The device was found to be a motion-sensing camera that was secretly placed under the bathroom sink and positioned to face the toilet.

After a joint investigation between the hospital and city police, Bourdeau was arrested. He was accused of moving the device at least once, police said. It was placed in an employee bathroom on the first floor of the hospital’s E wing.

The camera was in place for at least a week, police said. Court papers put the time frame at a month, from Oct. 12 to Nov. 13.

Bourdeau had been a registered nurse for more than a decade, state records show. He received his license in August 2001, according to the state Office of the Professions.