Norristown dance instructor gets up to 53 years for using hidden camera to record women undressing

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A 39-year-old Norristown dance instructor has been sentenced to more than a quarter century in prison for hiding a camera to record women getting undressed.

Francis Laurenzi was convicted in May of seven counts of invasion of privacy, one for each woman prosecutors say he secretly recorded in the bathroom of his dance studio.

Because Laurenzi was already on Megan’s List due to a 2015 conviction of sex with a minor, he faced a mandatory minimum 25-50 years in prison.

Montgomery County Judge Thomas Del Ricci added three to six months for the six other women, bringing the total sentence to 26 ½ to 53 years.

Laurenzi taught dance lessons under the name Frankie G.

He maintains his innocence, saying the camera was only there to keep an eye on contractors who were renovating his studio, and he forgot about it.

But the woman who found the camera while she was changing testified that she took the memory card out and plugged the camera back in. She says within minutes of leaving, Laurenzi called her asking if she had taken something.