Former Missouri Cop Finally Admits It: Nude Searches On Women’s Phones Aren’t Part Of The Traffic Stop
One victim’s deleted text exposed an officer’s months-long nude-search scheme.
It's official. Searching through phones for nudes is not part of the traffic stop protocols for officers. I think most already understood this, but a former Missouri police officer busted for doing it to as many as 20 women pleaded guilty this week.
A 30-year-old former Florissant Officer named Julian Alcala pleaded guilty to 20 counts of willfully depriving someone of their right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure in a deal with federal prosecutors, CBS News reports.
A former officer has pleaded guilty to looking through women's phones for nudes during traffic stops. (Image Credit: Getty)
Prosecutors dropped a felony obstruction count. What he pleaded guilty to has him facing up to a year in prison or a $100,000 fine or both. He's out on bond until his sentencing in March of next year.
SIGN UP for The Daily OutKick. New Look, Same Attitude.
Alcala admitted to pulling a woman over in February 2024 and taking her phon to his vehicle after telling her he needed it to confirm her insurance information. He found a video of her engaging in sexual activity and texted it to himself.
That's not part of the proper traffic stop procedures. Neither is finding a nude picture of the woman on the phone and taking a picture of it with his phone, which he also did.
Two Tennessee Officers Disciplined After One Of Them Took Pictures Of A Woman's Feet During A Traffic Stop
From February to May 2024, Alcala took another 19 women's phones to his vehicle during traffic stops, searching through them for nudes. He would then take pictures of any that he found.
That's searching the women's phones "without a warrant or probable cause," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri. You can’t do that.
"He used his own cell phone to take photographs of one or more images that portrayed either the victim or a loved one or both in a partial or full state of nudity that he found in various folders and apps," the office said.
That first text message of the video to himself was Alcala's undoing. The woman noticed that the video of her engaging in sexual activity was in her deleted texts and had been sent to an unknown number.
She called the FBI, and they were able to connect the number to Alcala. They then executed a search warrant and found the other nudes on his phone, the plea deal states.