A former Missouri police officer admitted to stopping more than 20 women’s cars and searching women’s cell phones to obtain nude photos and videos over a three-month period in 2024, prosecutors said.
In a plea deal reached with federal prosecutors on Dec. 2, former Florissant employee Julian Alcala pleaded guilty to 20 counts of deprivation of rights, according to online records. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped one charge of destroying records in a federal investigation.
Alcala, 30, admitted in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to illegally searching the cell phones of 20 women and obtaining nude photos and videos during a traffic stop, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said in a news release. Prosecutors say Alcala pulled over the women while on duty from February 6, 2024 to May 18, 2024, wearing a uniform and riding in a marked police vehicle.
Prosecutors said Alcala took each victim’s cell phone under the guise of verifying insurance coverage or vehicle registration. According to the plea agreement, he told 19 victims that they needed to use their cell phones to check their insurance coverage and told one victim that he was checking the registration of their vehicle.
“Alcala then searched the phone without a warrant or probable cause,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “He used his cell phone to take photographs of one or more images depicting either the victim or a loved one, or both, partially or fully nude, which he found in various folders and apps.”
A grand jury indicted the former police officer in November 2024, with prosecutors accusing him of depriving women of their right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. At the time, prosecutors said Alcala was the second former law enforcement officer to be indicted on such charges.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Alcala is scheduled to be sentenced on March 11, 2026. Each count of disenfranchisement under color of law is punishable by one year in prison, a fine of up to $100,000, or both.
Plea deal: Former Missouri police officer arrested after victim discovers text messages
According to the plea agreement, Alcala’s first victim was taken on February 6, 2024. When he took the woman’s cell phone back to his car during a traffic stop, he found a video of her engaging in a sex act.
He then texted the video to his cell phone, the plea agreement states. Alcala also found nude photos of the woman and used his cell phone to take the images.
After the traffic stop, the victim said she checked deleted text messages and realized the video had been sent to a phone number she didn’t recognize, according to the plea agreement. She then reported the incident to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
According to the plea agreement, the FBI tracked Alcala’s phone number and began investigating the incident. The FBI executed a court-authorized search warrant on Alcala’s cell phone and iCloud storage and discovered 19 additional victims.
“The images taken by the defendant included individual naked women,” the plea agreement states. “These images were stored in various locations on the victim’s phone, including the camera roll, within text messages with loved ones, and in folders within applications on the phone, including SnapChat.”
After Alcala was indicted in November 2024, the Florissant Police Department announced in a statement that Alcala resigned in June 2024 after the FBI notified the department of the investigation. At the time, Mr. Alcala had been employed by the department for 11 months.
“We are disgusted by this behavior. It is a complete betrayal of the values we stand for and is in no way reflective of the professionalism or integrity of our dedicated staff,” the department said. “We recognize the gravity of this breach of trust and its impact on our community.”
Florissant is a suburb north of St. Louis.
Former Missouri State Highway Patrol officer charged with similar charges
Alcala became the second former law enforcement officer to be indicted in November 2024 on charges of destruction of records and deprivation of rights under color of law in a federal investigation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Former Missouri State Highway Patrol Officer David McKnight was indicted on November 12, 2024, on one count of destruction of records in a federal investigation and nine counts of deprivation of rights under color of law. Prosecutors accused McKnight of searching nine women’s cell phones between September 1, 2023 and August 19, 2024.
According to the indictment, McKnight stopped most of the women for traffic violations and searched their cellphones.
“He took their cell phones for the purpose of verifying their insurance coverage and verifying their identity,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Prosecutors said McKnight used his personal cell phone to take photos of nude images that were stored on the victim’s cell phone. The man then deleted the photos from his phone, according to the indictment.
