Lower Makefield Nurse Who Filmed Patients Naked Headed To Prison

YARDLEY, PA — A dermatology nurse who secretly videotaped naked female patients at Penn Medicine Dermatology in Lower Makefield Township has been sentenced to serve two to four years in state prison.

James Close, 45, of Abington was sentenced Tuesday in Bucks County Common Pleas Court. Close told authorities his sex addiction drove him to conceal his iPhone and record eight undressed patients at the practice, which is located in Floral Vale professional complex.

The victims ranged from 17 to 70 years of age.

Close, a father of two, pleaded guilty in August to multiple felony counts of filming a nude child without her consent and criminal use of a communications facility, as well as dozens of misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of children and invasion of privacy.

He expressed remorse during sentencing, according to information from the Bucks County District Attorney's office. “I wish I would have sought help before I brought so many people such pain,” said Close, who had worked for Penn Medicine for five years.

The investigation began after the 17-year-old victim noticed an iPhone at her feet after she went unclothed into a phototherapy booth for treatment of a skin disorder. She confronted Close and turned the phone over to a nursing manager at the facility, and police were contacted.

Once investigators searched Close’s iPhone, they found 19 stored videos depicting eight female patients in various stages of undress, authorities said.

Several victims submitted statements that were read in court during sentencing. “I thought I was getting medical treatment when, in fact, I was becoming part of a porn collection,” one victim wrote.

A psychologist who evaluated Close in prison said he has “a long-term sexual addiction that led to this reprehensible behavior.” Dean Dickson, the psychologist, said that Close had become so desensitized to constant pornography that the novelty and danger of viewing naked patients aroused him “like a moth to the flame.”

“This is a broken man who victimized people,” Dickson testified. “His problem is that he wasn’t in treatment earlier.”

Close also received consecutive 20 years of probation with his prison sentence.

PHOTO: Bucks County DA