A former suburban St. Louis police officer has admitted to stopping more than 20 women and searching their cellphones for nude images and videos over several months last year.
According to a plea agreement filed Tuesday, former Florissant officer Julian Alcala pleaded guilty to 20 misdemeanor counts of willfully depriving someone of their right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. In return, federal prosecutors agreed to drop a felony obstruction charge.
Each count carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison. Alcala, 30, is free on bond while awaiting sentencing on March 11.
Court documents say that in February 2024, Alcala stopped a woman, took her cellphone under the pretense of verifying her insurance, and brought it to his patrol vehicle. Instead, he found a sexually explicit video and texted it to himself, then photographed a nude image of the woman he found on her device.
Over the next three months, he took 19 other women's phones back to his vehicle during traffic stops, purportedly to confirm their insurance or vehicle registration, the plea deal states. He then looked for nude images and took photos of ones he found.
He was caught after the first victim looked in her deleted texts and learned that the video of her engaged in sexual activity had been sent to an unknown number. She called the FBI, which traced the number to Alcala. The FBI then executed a search warrant and found the other nude photos, according to the plea agreement.
Alcala's attorney, Scott Rosenblum, didn't immediately respond to a Tuesday email seeking comment.
