FLORISSANT, Mo. — A former Florissant police officer pleaded not guilty on Friday while facing 21 federal charges relating to a scandal involving nude photos he's accused of stealing off victims' phones during traffic stops.
29-year-old Julian Alcala turned himself into U.S. Marshals Friday morning before making his initial court appearance at the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse in downtown St. Louis later in the afternoon.
5 On Your Side was the first to tell you when Julian Alcala was formally indicted on Wednesday.
Each of the charges relates to one of the 20 victims, including another obstruction of justice charge. Alcala is also facing six federal lawsuits from women who accuse him of those acts.
5 On Your Side's reporter Megan Kernan pressed the former officer as he left the courthouse, asking him the only question that got a response.
"Julian, what would you like to say to the 20 victims in the indictment who say you violated their privacy?" Kernan asked.
Alcala responded with, "You need to contact my lawyer, Scott Rosenblum, for that." Kernan replied, "Do you feel bad for any of these victims?"
Alcala didn't answer any other questions before he slammed his car door shut and drove off.
Judge Collins ordered Alcala to surrender his passport within two days of Friday, stay in Eastern Missouri, and avoid all contact with victims in the case. He also has to submit to testing for drugs and follow all rules set by his pre-trial services officer.
'They were just put in a very bad position'
Heidi Suguitan, the Director of Clinical Programs and Education for Safe Connections, said the victims should not be faulted for handing their phones over after an officer requested them.
"Why should women have to worry about handing over their phones to someone whose job is to protect the public good? That's my question. They didn't do anything wrong. They were just put in a very bad position, and now they're having to deal with that," Suguitan said.
Suguitan also said this violation of privacy can be even more traumatizing when it involves a police officer stealing victims' nude photos and videos.
"It's a whole new level, and it feels like a crime that keeps them repeating because they could meet someone who's seen their image before or have someone recognize their image somewhere online. So it's just a feeling of never knowing when this will come back into their lives. So it's very upsetting for them," said Suguitan.
Alcala's defense attorney is Scott Rosenblum. Alcala's other defense attorney, Cameron Valdez, who was in court on Rosenblum's behalf, requested 60 days to review the case.
Alcala's pre-trial date has not been set yet.
5 On Your Side continued to press Florissant City leaders for answers, but they refused to talk.
'Something wasn't right'
Attorney J.C. Pleban represents four victims, including the first victim in the indictment, who says the 29-year-old asked for her insurance during a traffic stop, took her phone for at least 10 minutes, sent himself a private video of her and her boyfriend, and then deleted the text.
"Once he deletes the text message, he gets an obstruction charge, which is the most serious out of these. I think she just had a feeling that something was off. Something wasn't right. This was taking way too long and when she checked her phone. she saw that the a video had been sent from her number to a number she didn't know at the exact time that she was pulled over," Pleban said.
The woman later went through her deleted messages, saw the video was sent to another phone, and she immediately contacted the FBI.
"It's outrageous, it's messy. There's one upside I guess, I think probably the video being sent to himself is what got him caught. Nobody ever thinks that something like this, something this outrageous, is going to happen when we put law enforcement into the streets. They're supposed to protect and serve," said Pleban.
Pleban said this indictment has allowed his clients to get some closure, but he still has questions for the Florissant Police Department.
"What we're looking forward to in our lawsuit is figuring out what the city knew and what they didn't do, what other officers knew and what they didn't know, who saw what, what training this officer had at Florissant," Pleban explained.
On Thursday, 5 On Your Side's Megan Kernan asked the Florissant Police Chief to address the scandal and issue directly. They had an interview set up, but it was canceled less than an hour beforehand due to advice from legal counsel.
The City of Florissant apologized for the inconvenience. Robert Plunkert, the city's attorney, still said they won't comment on pending litigation.
“These are all real nice, normal people who do what police officers say,” said defense attorney Beavis Schock, who represents six of the women. He said he learned about the indictment on Tuesday.
“I got a call from the U.S. Attorney who knew I was working on the case. That was the inevitable part of the process. He violated these women’s civil rights,” Schock told 5 On Your Side’s Robert Townsend during an interview this afternoon.
“The way this all started was the FBI called the victims, and each victim said well, I got pulled over and he took my phone back. He probably had in his mind something about getting power over people,” added Beavis Schock.
"The four victims we represent are beginning to see justice work. This is another avenue for these victims to get closure from the trauma they’ve endured," Attorney J.C. Pleban, who represents some of the victims, told 5 On Your Side.
Alcala allegedly took possession of each of the victims' phones, searched through them without a warrant or probable cause, found photos and videos of the victims engaged in sexual activity, and sent the media to his personal cell phone, according to the charges. Alcala then deleted the texts before handing the phones back to the victims.
"The defendant, Julian Alcala, while acting under color of law, willfully deprived (the victims) of the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, a right secured and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States," the federal court documents said.
The Missouri Department of Public Safety said the former officer has permanently surrendered his Class A peace officer license.
The Florissant Police Department shared the following statement:
"Alcala has been charged with multiple Federal Civil Rights Violations related to his actions during his employment with the City of Florissant.
"In early June of this year, the FBI St. Louis Division informed our department of an investigation involving Alcala. Upon becoming aware of these serious allegations, he immediately resigned from his position. The department fully cooperated with the investigation.
"Alcala was hired as a full-time Police Officer with the City of Florissant after a meticulous and thorough background investigation, which revealed no areas of concern. During his eleven months of employment, he received no complaints or accusations of misconduct.
"We want to assure our residents that we had no knowledge of any illegal activity or improper behavior by Alcala during his time with our department. Importantly, no other members of the Florissant Police Department were involved in this matter.
"We are disgusted at this behavior, which is a complete betrayal of the values we uphold and in no way reflects the professionalism and integrity of our dedicated officers. We recognize the gravity of this breach of trust and its impact on our community. Rebuilding that trust is our top priority, and we are committed to transparency, accountability, and regaining the confidence of those we serve.
"Every member of our department is held to the highest standards of integrity, and we remain steadfast in ensuring that our interactions with the community reflect respect, dignity, and professionalism."
If you are a victim looking for help, there are many resources out there in the St. Louis region offering a variety of services.
For more information on Safe Connections, click here.
You can check out YWCA's services here.
"When someone takes your image or your intimate images and puts them out there, you have no way of picking up all those pieces. And so now these women have to think about that. I want to share a resource with you. There's a website for the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, and they have a list of laws in each state that you can use. They have some steps you can take and ways to request images to be taken down if they are online. So that could be really useful for some of the victims," said Suguitan.
To learn more information about the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, click here.