Make sure your employees as well as executives understand that eavesdropping is a crime. Even if your security cameras come with microphone capability, you better check with your lawyer before you consider activating or recording any of the audio.
The town supervisor from Geddes, NY, Manny Falcone, has pleaded guilty to felony eavesdropping charges.
Falcone admitted he ordered the audio capabilities on a town hall security camera to be activated so he could eavesdrop between February and September 2016. The camera was located in the main entryway of the building.
“Employees had concern they were being monitored or recorded and that their conversations in the hallway were being overheard,” said Onondaga County Assistant District Attorney Caleb Petzoldt. They reached out to State Police last year, fearing eavesdropping was happening inside the walls of town hall. There were four other cameras installed in the building that did not have audio turned on, said Petzoldt.
We reported in December that Mr. Falcone’s secretary, Ellen Colelli, was originally charged with eavesdropping. But recently, Falcone admitted he had ordered his secretary to secretly record the conversations so he could listen in.
When asked if the eavesdropping may have been accidental, the prosecutor said, “No, absolutely not. The installation of the audio equipment was deliberate and intentional.”
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