Overview
- Julian Alcala admitted in federal court to 20 misdemeanor counts of depriving women of their Fourth Amendment rights during traffic stops in early 2024.
- While on duty in uniform in a marked patrol car, he took phones under the pretense of checking insurance or registration, searched them without a warrant, and photographed nude images.
- In the first incident, he texted a sexually explicit video from a victim’s phone to his own, leading the victim to alert the FBI after spotting the deleted message to an unknown number.
- Court-authorized searches of Alcala’s phone and iCloud uncovered images tied to 19 additional victims, according to prosecutors.
- Under a plea deal, prosecutors dropped an obstruction count; Alcala remains free on bond and faces up to one year in prison and $100,000 in fines per count.