Note: This story has been updated to say Johnson was released from jail Friday, but did not respond to a phone message.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A former Upstate University Hospital nurse was arrested on charges that she photographed the private parts of unconscious patients.

Kristen A. Johnson's arrest comes as a result of a nine-month investigation, Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick announced.

Johnson, 26, was charged with two counts of felony second-degree unlawful surveillance and one count of second-degree disseminating unlawful surveillance, a misdemeanor. She was arraigned in City Court. She was held in the Onondaga County Justice Center, but released from custody Friday evening. Johnson did not respond to a message left at her listed phone number.

"Despite what certain people seem to think, it is a crime in the state of New York to view, broadcast or record images of another person's intimate body parts, surreptitiously," Fitzpatrick said in a statement.

Fitzpatrick's office, as well as state University Police at Upstate, led the investigation. The patients and their families have been notified.

Darryl Geddes, an Upstate University Hospital spokesman, declined to comment Friday except to say that Johnson was not working for the hospital anymore.

"At this time I'm not able to offer anymore information on this matter," he said.

Fitzpatrick did not respond to phone messages left for him Friday.

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