Ex-Missouri officer pleads guilty to searching women’s phones for sexual photos during stops

This image taken from video shows Julian Alcala leaving federal court in St. Louis, Friday, Nov. 25, 2024. (Dana Rieck/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

A former suburban St. Louis police officer admitted that over several months last year, he pulled over 20 women’s vehicles and searched their phones for nude photos and videos.

In a deal with federal prosecutors entered Tuesday, former Florissant Officer Julian Alcala pleaded guilty to 20 counts of willfully depriving someone of their right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. In exchange, prosecutors dropped a felony obstruction count.

The count he pleaded guilty to is punishable by up to a year in prison. Alcala, 30, remains free on bond pending his March 11 sentencing.

According to the plea deal, Alcala pulled over a woman in February 2024 and took her cellphone to his vehicle, saying he needed to do so to confirm her insurance information. Instead he found a video of the woman engaged in sexual activity on her phone and texted it to his own phone. He also found a nude photo of the woman and used his phone to take a picture of the image.

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.

Heather Hollingsworth, The Associated Press