A former Missouri police officer has admitted to pulling over 20 women’s vehicles and searching their phones to obtain nude photos and videos over a period of about three months in 2024, prosecutors said.
In a plea agreement reached with federal prosecutors on Dec. 2, former Florissant Officer Julian Alcala pleaded guilty to 20 counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, online records show. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped one count of destroying records in a federal investigation.
Alcala, 30, had admitted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to unlawfully searching the phones of 20 women during traffic stops to obtain nude photos and videos, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said in a news release. Prosecutors said Alcala had pulled over these women while on duty, in uniform, and in a marked police vehicle between Feb. 6, 2024, and May 18, 2024.
Prosecutors said Alcala took each victim's cell phone under the guise of confirming their insurance coverage or vehicle registration. He told 19 of his victims he needed to use their phones to check their insurance coverage and told one victim that he was confirming her vehicle registration, according to the plea agreement.
