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Pervy professor gets probation for dressing-room peeping

A Manhattan judge sentenced a remorseful former New York University art history professor to five years probation Wednesday for using his iPhone to film two young women as they tried on clothes at a West Village boutique.

“Peeping Prof” Ross Finocchio, 35, copped to two counts of felony unlawful surveillance in Manhattan Supreme Court last April as part of a no-jail plea deal. He must continue to attend therapy.

A teary-eyed Finocchio told Justice Richard Carruthers that his sleazy behavior was triggered by “low points” in his life and expressed remorse.

This photo, taken by the store manager of Beacon’s Closet in the West Village, shows Finocchio exiting the dressing room just before his arrest in May 2013.
“I hope you accept my heartfelt apology for disturbing your lives,” he said, addressing his victims who were not in court. “I was not well … [But] I’ve done everything in my power to acknowledge wrongdoing.”

Finocchio was busted May 10, 2013, after two women — ages 26 and 28 — told cops that they were trying on clothing at Beacon’s Closet when they saw a man’s shoe slide under the partition from the dressing room next door.

The shoe had an iPhone in it, the women told first the store manager, and then the police.

Finocchio — who was held at the store by management until police arrived — is an accomplished professor who has lectured at the Met and Sotheby’s, and who has won prizes for his knowledge of 19-Century art.

Finocchio lost his all his jobs over the creepy incident, said his lawyer Stan German who argued for only three years of probation.

“Mr. Finocchio has faced a slew of collateral consequences,” he said.