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NYU Professor Arrested For Allegedly Recording Women In Changing Room
By
Ben Yakas
Published May 15, 2013
Modified May 15, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published May 15, 2013
Modified May 15, 2013
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A respected NYU art history teacher was arrested on Monday and accused of being a peeping professor. Ross Finocchio, 34, was allegedly caught using his iPhone to spy on young women in the changing rooms at Beacon's Closet on Monday. “He said, ‘I’m so embarrassed. I was recording myself for a project — if I could just explain myself,’” store manager Stephanie Williams told the Post. Ahh, the old art project excuse—classic upskirter stuff.
Finocchio allegedly set up his phone in a shoebox, and then slid it under the changing room partition to the next room. One 26-year-old victim says she saw the shoe slide into her room as she was getting undressed at 4:30 p.m. “I told the store manager that I saw him put something under the door but I didn’t see what it was,” she told the Post. That woman and Williams then watched as Finocchio allegedly pulled the same stunt on a 28-year-old woman.
“I knocked on [his dressing-room door] and said, ‘You have to come out right now,’” said manager Stephanie Williams. When he came out, she said he "was sweating profusely," and she snapped the photo above. Finocchio, a PhD student who also works at the Met, was charged with unlawful surveillance, a felony, and admitted to making the recordings, according to the criminal complaint. An NYU spokesman added that he won't have any contact with students "until the matter is cleared up."
Tagged
manhattan
NYU
peeping tom
ross finocchio
spying
west village
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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