Singapore dental worker jailed for secretly photographing female patients' chests

The 29-year-old, Elgin Ng, was convicted on Tuesday at the State Courts of Singapore after pleading guilty to nine charges, including voyeurism, distributing obscene images, and unauthorized access to computer data. Twenty-one other charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Prosecutors had sought a longer term of at least two years and five months.

Ng was employed as a photographer at the National Dental Center Singapore (NDCS), where his official duties involved capturing images of patients' teeth and jaws for surgical preparation.

Investigations revealed that between June 2021 and May 2024, Ng took unauthorized photos of 25 female victims, aged 13 to 38, Channel News Asia reported.

He focused on their chests, capturing images from prohibited top-down and bottom-up angles. He admitted to targeting female patients he found attractive, especially when colleagues were not present.

The technician systematically violated NDCS imaging protocols designed to ensure patient modesty and safety. These protocols require staff to provide all patients with a blue drape to cover their chests and ensure a female colleague is present during imaging sessions with female patients, or keep the room curtains open.

During his unauthorized sessions, Ng withheld the blue drape and closed the room curtains. In cases where patients were not even scheduled for imaging, he falsely claimed that a dentist had requested additional photographs.

His fraud extended beyond the photography itself. He was required to transfer all images from the camera's SD card to a secure NDCS hard drive. To evade detection, he instead transferred the sensitive images to his personal devices and deleted them from the camera's card, according to AsiaOne.

He further accessed NDCS's internal systems to obtain victims’ portrait photographs, storing them on a USB drive alongside their names, ages, and the clandestine photos he had taken. On at least two occasions, he shared some of these images with a friend via the Telegram messaging app.

The offenses came to light in April 2024 when an 18-year-old victim reported concerns about being repeatedly summoned for imaging sessions despite her dentist having no such requirement. She had been photographed 31 times by Ng.

When NDCS initiated internal investigations, Ng resigned without providing a statement. The center subsequently reported the case to the police. Following the incident, NDCS announced it has tightened its photography protocols, requiring patient chaperones and increasing oversight of access to dental records.