Ex-junior doctor accused of spying on more than 400 people in hospital toilets, ranking the images in computer folders

A former junior doctor who allegedly filmed more than 460 people at hospitals in Melbourne ranked intimate images he captured on cameras hidden in toilets, police say.

A former junior doctor who allegedly filmed more than 460 people at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, The Austin Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre ranked intimate images he captured on cameras hidden in toilets, police say.

Dr Ryan Cho, 28, was arrested on Friday and hit with a raft of extra charges, a fortnight after police first discovered a mobile phone set up to film people in a staff bathroom at The Austin.

Dr Cho faced the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday evening, where Senior Constable Narelle Baker said his alleged offending was “calculated and obsessive” and “much more serious” than initially thought.

Senior Constable Baker charged Dr Cho with the new charges after an analysis of the phone found at The Austin and a hard drive allegedly found at his home found more than 4500 “intimate images”.

Police re-arrested the 28-year-old man at a property in Croydon on Friday, July 25.

Charge sheets allege there were more than 10,000 images and videos on a hard drive belonging to Dr Cho that were stored under five sub-folders, including two folders named “Tier 1” and “Tier 2” — described by investigators as an “assumed ranking order” of the sensitive images.

Between 2024 and this year, Dr Cho allegedly ranked 408 files under 64 sub-folders as “Tier 1”, while 333 files in two sub-folders were branded as “Tier 2”.

Police also allege Dr Cho filmed himself for more than seven minutes as he set up the Google mobile phone — which captured several witnesses, three women and two men — on camera.

The camera allegedly captured the “genital region” of four of those victims, three of whom were later identified by Cyber Crime detectives by their name tags during the investigation.

Data from the phone suggests Dr Cho’s alleged offending spanned from 2021 to 2025.

Senior Constable Baker said Dr Cho is believed to have put a constantly-recording phone inside a see-through mesh bag hanging from a white plastic stick-on hook inside toilets where he worked.

He is also believed to have sabotaged nearby toilets by removing flush buttons, clogging them with toilet paper, or locking them from the outside, so colleagues had no other option but to use the toilet he was filming in.

One recent, unedited, video allegedly shows Dr Cho filming himself setting up the camera.

Senior Constable Baker said an audit of Austin Hospital bathrooms found some of the stick-on hooks in patient toilets, with no record of them being installed by management.

Dr Ryan Cho's parents leave the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court after he was refused bail.

The sheer scale of Dr Cho’s alleged offending prompted police to revoke his existing bail. Senior Constable Baker said if Dr Cho was released it would harm public confidence in the justice system’s ability to protect the community.

“Staff are no longer feeling safe,” she said.

An initial police review of Dr Cho’s laptop, and a hard drive found at his home, showed thousands of files labelled “Austin”, “PMCC” “RMH” with sub-folders named after staff.

Dr Cho’s psychologist, Dr Paul Grech, told the court the former junior doctor, who has been suspended by the medical regulator, was a risk of suicide. Dr Grech also said Dr Cho had been seeing a sexologist since he was arrested.

Dr Cho’s father, Wilson Cho, flew from Singapore to support him in court.

Mr Cho told the court he was willing to put up a $10,000 bail guarantee for his son, and to take him to medical appointments.

Police first discovered a mobile phone set up to film people in a staff bathroom at The Austin. Picture: Tony Gough

Mr Cho, who paid $500,000 for his son’s education at Monash University, said he would report his son to police if he saw him with a mobile phone, in breach of proposed bail conditions.

“I am prepared to stay in Australia for as long as needed,” he said.

Defence lawyer George Balot said conditions could be put in place to minimise Dr Cho’s risk of potential reoffending.

“He has engaged criminal lawyers, a psychologist, a sexologist, his parents are in Australia to do whatever it takes to have him released to their care,” Mr Balot said.

“It is conceded that it is a strong prosecution case … but where a person is receiving appropriate support, and has been on bail for two weeks, complied with bail impeccably, the risk can be managed and it can be managed by the imposition of special conditions.”

Police said they believed Dr Cho posed a flight risk because the serious nature of the charges and likelihood of imprisonment places the accused at risk of absconding.

But Mr Balot said Dr Cho had surrendered his passport, would live with his parents, and would be supervised by his parents.

“They’re mortified by the allegations and they want to ensure that he’s treated, treated as soon as possible, and not in a custodial setting.”

Magistrate James Henderson said the allegations involved a “huge amount of intimate videos” of staff going about “very private activities” and that Dr Cho would likely be jailed if found guilty.

Mr Henderson said the case against Dr Cho was “strong”, and refused bail.

Dr Cho returns to court at a later date.

Originally published as Ex-junior doctor accused of spying on more than 400 people in hospital toilets, ranking the images in computer folders