Dental Hygienist Faces New Charges Of Secret Cameras In Bathroom

CRESTWOOD, IL — A dental hygienist already accused of secretly video-taping his coworkers using an employee bathroom is facing new charges. Armani Alexander, 26, appeared Friday before Cook County Judge Margaret O’Garek on 17 new charges of unauthorized video recording. Alexander's last known address is in Chicago.

Alexander was a state licensed dental hygienist at Aspen Dental, 13442 S. Cicero Ave., Crestwood. In late October 2020, two video cameras were discovered hidden in the dental office’s employee restroom. Video recordings of male and female employees using the bathroom were found on the cameras, according to the charges. Police discovered that Alexander had placed the cameras in the bathroom, and he was brought to the Crestwood police station he admitted to hiding the cameras, the prosecutor said.

According to a Crestwood police report, police recovered several videos from the camera and were able to identify eight employees. Employees captured on video identified themselves in screenshots from the secret video recordings, the prosecutor said. Alexander was charged with eight counts of unauthorized video recording and is currently on electronic monitoring at home with his family.

A few days after Alexander’s arrest in October 2020, Crestwood police executed a search warrant at his residence, where officers found a laptop on top of his bed in his bedroom, the prosecutor said. The laptop was submitted to the FBI for forensic analysis.

In March, police said the forensic analysis of Alexander’s laptop came back, where a total of 123 images showing the dental practice’s restroom were found, including 93 images from the pending case. The prosecutor told the judge that images extracted from the laptop included new, unseen videos of an additional 18 employees using the employee bathroom. The employees identified themselves in the screenshots from the newly discovered videos.

The prosecutor said that Alexander pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge from 2013. While in college, Alexander was accused of entering various dorm rooms and pouring water on other students as they slept.

Alexander’s attorney told the judge that the new charges arose from the same case where it can be “considered one course of conduct,” unlike “a narcotics case where there are multiple transactions and an arrest,” the attorney said. He argued that his client wasn’t a flight risk and asked for the previous bond to stand.

“This defendant used his employee position and the privacy of a bathroom setting to conduct these crimes and take advantage of the trust of fellow employees and workers [and] violating that trust and privacy of a restroom,” O’Garek said.

O’Garek set a new bail at $35,000 based on the fact that employees had to go to the police station and “forced to identify themselves.” Alexander will remain on electronic monitoring.

Aspen Dental is currently being sued by 11 current and former employees over claims that the dental office did not fully vet Alexander before hiring him, according to Cook County Record. Alexander’s license has been temporarily suspended “due to a finding “due to a finding that respondent's continued practice constitutes an immediate danger to the public.”

Alexander's next hearing is June 11 in Bridgeview.