The State Attorney’s Office will not charge a Jacksonville doctor who was accused of recording employees in a bathroom.
The State Attorney’s Office disposition statement, signed on Friday morning, cites “insufficient evidence.”
Action News Jax broke the story in June that Dr. Manpreet Grewal resigned in May amid accusations he secretly recorded employees on the toilet.
A Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office investigative report said two people told police that Grewal admitted to them that it was his iPhone found in a staff bathroom.
Grewal practiced in an office that North Florida Surgeons rents on the third floor of the Joe Adams Building at St. Vincent’s Southpoint.
#ANJaxBreaking: @SAO4Florida will NOT charge #Jacksonville Dr. Manpreet Grewal, who was accused of recording people in bathroom w/ iPhone. Disposition cites insufficient evidence. #JSO says a coworker told investigators Grewal admitted to destroying phone: https://t.co/XRU1kv0C96 pic.twitter.com/0vykhKPQAS
— Jenna Bourne (@jennabourneWTSP) December 14, 2018
A JSO supplemental report that Action News Jax got through a public records request said another North Florida Surgeons doctor told JSO he found a phone under the sink in the employee bathroom, facing “across from the toilet and there was just enough space between the cabinet doors to capture an image.”
The report said an office manager told JSO that Grewal took the phone out of her hand.
The JSO report said both that office manager and the doctor who found the phone told police Grewal "admitted that it was his phone and stated that he had made a great mistake."
The report said the physician who found the iPhone told JSO that Grewal told him he destroyed his phone by placing it in Coca-Cola and then throwing it in a dumpster.
MORE | JSO: Coworker says doctor accused of recording women in bathroom admitted he destroyed phone
“There is insufficient evidence to prove what the I-Phone was indeed recording and whether the I-Phone had been used to transmit images,” the State Attorney’s Office disposition statement said. “The I-Phone is not available to conduct any forensic analysis as it has ostensibly been destroyed and discarded. The Suspect is uncooperative with law enforcement and has not made any incriminating statements that would be admissible against him in a prosecution.”
The JSO report's evidence log shows there is no physical evidence.
"Why would somebody...throw away or destroy a phone if there's nothing on it? It makes no sense," said attorney John Phillips.
Phillips represents a former employee who reported Grewal to the police.
North Florida Surgeons’ attorney Rick Reznicsek confirmed in June that the business did not contact police, instead calling in a private investigator who found no recording devices.
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The JSO supplemental report said the officer manager told police she and her daughter resigned because she was upset by the way the business handled the situation.
“We’re going to file a lawsuit... against Dr. Grewal, and the facility, and anybody involved in the cover-up of the ruining of this phone,” said Phillips.
Action News Jax reached out to attorneys representing Grewal and North Florida Surgeons on Friday; neither wanted to comment on the new developments.
Action News Jax asked the State Attorney’s Office whether it considered charging Grewal with tampering with evidence.
Spokesperson David Chapman said it was considered, but if prosecutors can’t prove a crime was committed, then there’s no evidence of a crime to tamper with.
Cox Media Group
