A generic black smartphone charger. The camera was discovered in August 2022, when one of the victims saw the black device, disguised to look like a smartphone charger. — Unsplash
A Norristown man who secretly recorded seven women changing inside his unlicensed dance studio was sentenced to 26 1/2 to 53 years in state prison by a Montgomery County Court judge who admonished him for taking advantage of women who trusted him.
Francis “Frankie G” Laurenzi, 39, was convicted in May of invasion of privacy and possessing an instrument of a crime for using a camera disguised as a smartphone charger to record the women during visits to his studio in 2022.
The camera was discovered in August of that year, when one of the victims saw the device, disguised to look like a smartphone charger. Investigators later recovered footage of the six other victims in various states of undress.
Judge Thomas DelRicci added additional time to his sentence for each victim.
Laurenzi's attorney, Francis Genovese, did not return a request for comment. He has said he plans to appeal the conviction, and told reporters after his client's sentencing Thursday that he considered the sentence excessive.
Laurenzi faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in prison because his arrest in the hidden-camera case was his “second strike” while registered as a sex offender from a previous case: In 2015, he pleaded guilty to statutory rape and sexual abuse of children for having sex with a teen he gave private lessons to beginning when the girl was 15.
Laurenzi was sentenced to 23 months in jail, and served five years' probation.
Assistant District Attorney Karla Pisarcik said Aug 9 that she appreciated that the judge seemed to take to heart the comments from victims, who testified about how the violation of their privacy had affected them.
"The defendant made it clear, throughout this entire case, that he has no remorse for what he did, and has taken no accountability," she said. "He continues to blame other people. He is not sorry for what he did. He is only sorry he got caught."
The woman who discovered the camera testified at Laurenzi's trial that she had found his dance studio, “FG Dance”, through a Google search.
While she was at Laurenzi's home on Kendrick Lane in Norristown for a lesson in August 2022, he asked her if she was interested in trying on clothes he had for sale, she said. The woman declined, but later relented after repeated requests.
She went into a bathroom to change into the clothes, and while doing so noticed a black smartphone charger plugged into a nearby outlet. The woman, having seen videos on TikTok about cameras disguised as this type of charger, unplugged the device and found that it contained an SD card.
She left the studio, taking the card with her. Later, Laurenzi texted her, asking if she had taken the card.
He told her he uses the camera to prevent thefts from his studio during lessons, but the woman told investigators she did not believe his explanation. – The Philadelphia Inquirer/Tribune News Service
