An upstate sicko 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, allegedly planted hidden cameras in the ladies room of the public park — which authorities refused to identify — to record women and young girls in various stages of undress, according to a Manhattan federal complaint.
Towers had 10 spy cameras in the Locust Hill Road home he shares with his dad, 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 — about 78 of which had file names including the misspelled term “yung,” prosecutors alleged.
“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 Putnam 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 US Attorney’s office; the Putnam County District Attorney’s office, and the Putnam County Sheriff’s office all refused to reveal the name of the green space — which they described as a privately-owned, public park — Tucker allegedly stalked.
It is not known if the suspect worked at Clarence Fahnestock State Park, which includes a privately-owned 3,800-acre area. The land was purchased in 1991 by a conservation group and made into an extension of the state park.
The feds would not address why they got involved or if they found and notified unsuspecting victims.
Towers, who worked at the unnamed park from 2004 until March, was out on bail on child porn possession charges when he was collared on the federal charges, authorities said.
The feds believe the hidden cameras were in the bathroom from at least July 24, 2018 up to Dec. 9, 2019.
“John Towers’s alleged disturbing conduct violated the public’s trust by placing hidden cameras in a public bathroom and using those cameras to capture sexually explicit images of children,” US Attorney Damian Williams said after the complaint was unsealed last week.
Towers is charged in the federal complaint with sexual exploitation of a minor, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 30 years, and possession of child pornography, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Authorities were hot on the trail of Towers beginning in February.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation after getting a tip that a local 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 taking his own videos and downloading others,” said Nicholas Biase, spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office.
He was arrested and charged in Carmel Town Court with two counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child under the age of 17, three counts of possessing an obscene sexual performance by a child, and one count of endangering the welfare of a child, the documents said.
Anyone who may have relevant information regarding Towers is asked to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324).
Towers’ father, Donald, hung up the phone on a Post reporter seeking comment.
