Jacksonville doctor resigns amid accusations he recorded women in bathroom

An Action News Jax Investigation has learned that a Jacksonville doctor resigned amid accusations he secretly recorded women in the bathroom and patients during colonoscopies.

Dr. Manpreet Grewal was a colorectal surgeon at North Florida Surgeons and has been connected to three local hospitals.

According to a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office report, Grewal is accused of secretly recording people in the office that North Florida Surgeons rents on the third floor of the Joe Adams Building at St. Vincent’s Southpoint.

The attorney representing North Florida Surgeons confirmed the company never notified the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the Florida Department of Health, or patients.

But a JSO report shows an employee went to police. JSO confirmed it “thoroughly investigated” the accusations against Grewal and has referred the case to the State Attorney’s Office for possible charges.

Grewal’s profile has been removed from North Florida Surgeons’ website.

His name was crossed out on signs in the hallways at the Joe Adams Building.

Action News Jax began looking into Grewal after an anonymous tip to the station three weeks ago.

North Florida Surgeons’ Southpoint office employees repeatedly hung up on Action News Jax when we called to ask about the accusations.

When we showed up at the office May 24, we were told to contact North Florida Surgeons CEO John Berlin, who did not respond to our calls and emails.

Action News Jax did not get a response until Thursday, when we called and emailed Berlin, saying we had a JSO report filed by an employee.

The report said the employee told police “she and several co-workers discovered an iPhone in the females restroom positioned toward the commode recording.”

She told police, “the phone belonged to Dr. Grewal... They returned the phone to Dr. Grewal” and a doctor “revealed to her co-workers that Dr. Grewal had admitted to secretly recording the staff.”

The employee also informed JSO that “she was told another camera was discovered in the patient room where Dr. Grewal performed colonoscopies.”

North Florida Surgeons’ attorney Rick Reznicsek denied that Grewal admitted to anyone on staff that he secretly recorded people. Reznicsek said he does not know who the iPhone that was found belongs to or where it is now.

Reznicsek said the phone was found in a staff bathroom.

“North Florida Surgeons did hire an independent forensics investigative firm that did a complete sweep of the office and found no recording devices anywhere in the office,” said Reznicsek. “North Florida Surgeons conducted an investigation and could not confirm those allegations.”

Action News Jax asked Reznicsek why North Florida Surgeons hired a private investigator instead of asking JSO to investigate.

“I don’t have an answer for you on that,” Reznicsek said.

“What it says is that they did not want this to get out to the general public. They did not want a full-fledged police investigation,” said Action News Jax Crime & Safety Expert Ken Jefferson when asked about Reznicsek’s response.

Action News Jax sent Grewal a message on Facebook to get his side of the story.

We also called Grewal’s attorney Rick Ramsey.

On Friday, Grewal’s attorney Rick Ramsey said the police report “contains many falsehoods.”

Grewal did his residency at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville from 2005 to 2010.

Grewal’s website says he has staff memberships at St. Vincent’s HealthCare and Baptist Medical Center Beaches.

“We remain committed to the privacy and safety of those we serve. The individual referenced is not employed by our health system, and we immediately took steps to ensure he’s not providing care at any of our facilities, pending the outcome of an internal investigation.

"Our health system remains a safe place for our patients and we will continue to investigate this alleged incident,” said St. Vincent’s HealthCare spokesman Kyle Sieg in an email to Action News Jax.

Baptist Health spokesperson Cindy Hamilton said Grewal had a staff membership there, but resigned last month.

Hamilton said Baptist Health did not know about the accusations until Action News Jax called.

Cox Media Group