Mahopac Man Pleads Guilty to Secretly Filming Women’s Restroom

John Towners

A former Stonecrop Gardens employee who was arrested April 18 and accused of secretly filming girls in 2018 and 2019 as they used a public restroom has pleaded guilty to all charges.

Federal authorities say 56-year-old John Towers of Mahopac admitted to placing hidden cameras inside a bathroom at the Cold Spring park, to record women and children.

According to a criminal complaint filed April 17 in federal court, the investigation began in February after the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children passed along a tip from an internet service provider that a customer with a phone number associated with Towers had uploaded 57 files depicting child pornography to its cloud storage.

During a subsequent raid of Towers’ home, police reportedly seized 10 spy cameras, 20 DVDs with explicit content, a cellphone, and a desktop computer. From these items, law enforcement allegedly recovered more than 800 videos showing women and girls using a bathroom.

Officials also say Towers downloaded child sexual abuse material from the internet.

He now faces sentencing in February.

Towers had worked at Stonecrop Gardens for 20 years, since 2004.