PARK ‘PERV’ BUST
Cams in bathroom
An upstate man secretly recorded women and girls using the bathroom in the Putnam County park where he worked for 20 years, federal authorities said.
John Towers, 54, of Mahopac, planted hidden cameras in the ladies room of the public park — which authorities refused to identify — to record women and girls in various stages of undress, a Manhattan federal complaint alleged last week.
Towers had 10 spy cameras in the Locust Hill Road home he shares with his father, including three that looked like ballpoint pens, authorities said.
Investigators also recovered a hard drive with more than 800 videos of women and girls using a bathroom, prosecutors allege.
“This is quite shocking — it’s like something you would see on ‘Law & Order,’ not something you would expect to happen here, in this idyllic setting,” one county mother of two told The Post.
The woman, who asked for anonymity, slammed authorities for refusing to identify the park, calling it “disturbing.”
“What is the reason for keeping that information from parents?” she fumed. “I feel we have the right to know.”
The office of US Attorney Damian Williams, and the county district attorney’s and sheriff’s offices, all refused to reveal the name of the green space, except to say it is a privately owned, public park.
The Clarence Fahnestock State Park includes a privately owned 3,800-acre area. The feds would not address why they got involved or if they found and notified victims.
Towers, who worked at the park from 2004 until March, was out on bail on child-porn possession charges when he was collared on the federal raps, authorities said.
Sheriff got tip
The feds believe the hidden cameras were in the bathroom from at least July 24, 2018, up to Dec. 9, 2019.
Towers is charged in the federal complaint with sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of child pornography.
The sheriff’s office began an investigation after getting a tip that a man possessed images of child sex abuse.
Towers had DVDs containing video files he downloaded from the Internet depicting prepubescent minors engaging in sexual activity, the feds said.
He was arrested and charged in Carmel Town Court, the documents said.
Towers’ father, Donald, hung up the phone on a Post reporter seeking comment.