California DOCTOR ARRESTED FOR HIDDEN CAMERA IN CLINIC BATHROOM Faces Lawsuit From Multiple Families
A California doctor was taken into custody last month in connection with a hidden camera purportedly discovered in his clinic’s bathroom, and he is now facing a lawsuit from multiple families who claim to have been affected.
Nicholas Vanderhyde, 40, was arrested in June following an inquiry into a concealed camera discovered in the toilet of his Santa Clarita, Calif. clinic, according to KHTS, NBC Los Angeles, and KTLA.
According to a criminal complaint, he was arrested for possessing child pornography.
At a news conference, 11 families announced that they had launched a lawsuit against him and the Joint Chiropractic Clinic.
The inquiry began on May 8, when an employee at the clinic allegedly discovered a camera discreetly taped to a cabinet and connected to a power bank in the toilet, she told Eyewitness News.
The unnamed employee informed the newspaper that she spotted the camera when she went to get her phone from the cupboard after using the bathroom.
“It was pointed directly at the toilet, so they were aiming to record people using the bathroom, people’s private parts,” according to her.
According to the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, Vanderhyde was detained on June 4 following an inquiry. He has now been released on bail. It is unknown whether he has hired an attorney to speak on his behalf.
In a lawsuit filed on Monday, July 29, 17 former patients, including four minors, claim that Vanderhyde violated their privacy when he allegedly “purposely, strategically, and clandestinely placed” the camera in the bathroom “to record patients, including young children, in states of undress.”
The lawsuit, obtained by PEOPLE, also claims that the clinic failed to let patients determine “whether or not their nude or partially nude body was retained in images on Dr. Vanderhyde’s technology devices or if their image was distributed electronically in some fashion.”
The lawsuit also claims that The Joint was aware that Vanderhyde was a “predator” who “employed treatment measures not within the scope of services offered generally by The Joint,” but that the clinic “allowed” him to continue doing so without conducting an inquiry.
“Dr. Vanderhyde was permitted to continue treating patients in his rogue fashion, including insisting on upper, inner thigh massage touching at least one patient’s vagina,” according to a lawsuit excerpt.
According to Eyewitness News, the Joint Chiropractic clinic stated that while they would not discuss “ongoing legal matters,” “the safety of our patients and staff, and the integrity of the service we provide, are always our highest priorities.”
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