FLORISSANT, Mo. — A second lawsuit has been filed against an unnamed Florissant police officer who was previously accused of making copies of “intimate photographs” on a woman’s phone during a traffic stop earlier this year. Now, he's accused of copying nude photos of a teenage girl.
The lawsuit, filed last Friday, is the second against the officer and the city alleging similar behavior targeting a woman and a teenage girl. In both instances, the officer is accused of taking the victims' phones during a traffic stop, finding nude photographs on the phones and taking a picture of the screen using his own phone.
Rick Voytas is the attorney for the victims in both lawsuits. He said the victim in the second lawsuit is now 18, but the traffic stop happened a day before her high school graduation.
The latest lawsuit accuses the officer of pulling over the teen on May 18 and telling her that her "plates didn't match." The officer then asked the teen, identified under the pseudonym Mary Doe, for her insurance, which she said she could pull up on her phone.
The lawsuit said the girl unlocked her phone, at which time the officer "abruptly took Mary’s phone back to his Florissant Police vehicle without Mary’s consent."
The lawsuit said the officer remained in his vehicle for at least 10 minutes before returning with her phone and leaving without issuing a ticket.
Dr. Thomas Leasor, the executive director of the Eastern Missouri Police Academy, said the officer's actions go against everything he was taught.
"Taking a phone back to a vehicle, it's not something that we train our police recruits to do. That's not a standard procedure for police officers. That is not OK," Leasor said.
In July, the girl received a call from the FBI and agreed to meet with investigators. During that meeting, investigators asked her to identify a photograph that showed her nude.
"Mary was extremely embarrassed, disturbed, and sickened," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said the officer would have known the images were of an underage girl because of the birth date on her driver's license.
"No one despises a bad officer more than good officers because it reflects our entire profession. The good cops will continue to sacrifice themselves for the betterment of their community, only to be tarnished by so few," Leasor said.
The lawsuit said the girl's father reported the incident to Florissant's police chief immediately after learning about it.
"She and her father were there. And they were told, 'You need to leave. We'll get back to you.' And they never did," Voytas said.
Voytas believes the officer distributed naked photos of the teen.
What shocked him the most about this case, he said, was "the age of my client, and what happened to her, and how it happened, the fact that somebody employed by the city of Florissant used his city-issued badge and patrol car to do this, to gain access to this very young woman's intimate photos and take them."
Voytas said that after 22 years of being an attorney, this case shook him the most.
"This one's bad. As we plead, it's a violation of public trust with many victims who are innocent and didn't deserve this."
Voytas said more young women have come forward now with similar complaints—and in some cases, their spouses—who've all been targeted by the same officer.
"Since the story initially came out, a number of other victims have come forward to my office, and we're aware that this was a pattern in practice for at least some months with the Florissant Police Department," said Voytas.
The attorney wants Florissant police to take accountability and said the victims do, too.
"Neither of them feel like they've gotten any. I know that Jane and Mary pursued these to encourage the other victims to come forward and contact law enforcement about this. We hope that that continues to happen and that people continue to step forward," Voytas said.
Julie Seymore, the Executive Director of The Child Advocacy Center of Northeast Missouri, said they've seen an uptick in these specific types of cases.
"They can steal it or manipulate the situation they're in, like this case, with a law enforcement officer having access to somebody else's phone. Unfortunately, we're seeing kids involved in these types of cases that feel like there's no way out," Seymore said.
The first lawsuit, filed one week earlier, accused the officer of doing almost the exact same thing to a woman, identified under the pseudonym Jane Doe, during a February traffic stop. During that stop, the officer took the woman's phone, used his phone to copy nude photos, then returned her phone and left without issuing a ticket.
"We pled that (Jane Doe) has required medical care and psychological care as a result of this. She's a young mother of two, a wife, and an employee, and this has put some weight on her and made it hard for her," Voytas said. "Mary Doe is a young woman just getting started in her life, just finished high school, and it shouldn't be that she's having to deal with and think about this kind of invasion in the summer when she should be having fun with her friends. So I know it's been tough on both women."
Shortly after the first lawsuit was filed, Florissant police confirmed the officer is no longer employed by the department, adding that it is cooperating with the FBI St. Louis Division, which is leading the investigation.
"We know that he did leave his name with one of the victims, and we're being respectful of the FBI's investigation. Until the indictment becomes public, if and when that happens, we'll be releasing the name as well, but to not compromise the investigation, we're not at liberty to disclose the officer's name," Voytas said.
Rebecca Wu, a spokesperson for the FBI’s St. Louis office, said it “declined comment.”
The city of Florissant, also named as a defendant in both lawsuits, “hired (the officer) despite red flags that would indicate that (he) was a depraved predator who should not be policing the community and would demonstrate a threat to the community, particularly young women,” the lawsuit said.
Both lawsuits said Florissant has purchased insurance through the Missouri Public Entity Risk Management Fund, which would cover the accusations against the city.
In response to the first lawsuit, the Florissant Police Department said it was “deeply concerned by these allegations and want to assure the community that (it takes) any claim of officer misconduct very seriously.”
“The officer in question is no longer employed by the city of Florissant and there is no indication that any other member of the Florissant Police Department was involved in the alleged misconduct,” spokesman Officer Steve Michael said last week.
5 On Your Side reached out to Florissant Mayor Tim Lowery and city attorney Jackie Gravis last week, who both said they had no comment beyond the statement issued by police.
The Florissant Police Department would not comment on the most recent lawsuit.