ST. LOUIS – A former Florissant police officer received a federal sentence Wednesday for illegally searching women’s cell phones for nude photos during traffic stops.
Last December, Julian Alcala admitted that he pulled over multiple women and told them he needed to take their phones to his police vehicle to retrieve their insurance information. Instead, he searched each phone for nude images. If he found a nude photo, Alcala said he would photograph it using his own phone. He pleaded guilty to 20 counts of deprivation of rights under color of law, specifically the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.
A U.S. District Court judge sentenced Alcala to 24 months in federal prison and ordered him to pay more than $2,600 in restitution.
The former officer carried out the scheme between Feb. 6, 2024, and May 18, 2024, while serving with the Florissant Police Department.
Authorities eventually caught Alcala after he forwarded a video of one victim to his own phone and tried to delete evidence of the text. However, the victim noticed the video had been forwarded and contacted the FBI.
Investigators later searched Alcala’s cloud storage and found the video along with pictures of 19 other victims.
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