Two Missouri officers asked women for their phones – then stole nude images, authorities say

By Zoe Sottile, CNN

(CNN) — A former Missouri police officer and a former Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper have been indicted separately on federal charges accusing them of taking nude images from women’s phones during traffic stops while on duty.

Julian Alcala, a 29-year-old former police officer in Florissant, was indicted Wednesday in federal court in St. Louis. David McKnight, a 39-year-old former state trooper, was indicted Tuesday in federal court in southeastern Missouri’s Cape Girardeau, court documents show.

A spokesperson for the FBI St. Louis office told CNN the two cases are not connected, describing the similarities as “a matter of coincidence.”

In both cases, federal prosecutors allege the officers asked women for their phones – ostensibly to check their insurance coverage, vehicle registration or identification – and then searched the women’s phones for nude images, the US attorney’s office for Missouri’s eastern district asserts in the indictments. In two cases, McKnight also took the phones of alleged victims after arresting them.

The officers then used their personal cell phones to take photos of nude images they found – often images of the women, but in a few cases images of other people, the indictments say. Images of the nude photos were found on the men’s phones and on Alcala’s iCloud account, according to the indictments.

While the indictments don’t specify how the men came under suspicion, the attorney for one of Alcala’s alleged victims has said she reported an incident to the FBI, and one of McKnight’s alleged victims has said she reported him to his supervisor.

Alcala is accused of searching and taking images from the cell phones of 20 women between February 6 and May 18. McKnight is accused of searching nine women’s cell phones – and taking images from at least seven – between September 2023 and August 2024, the indictments read.

Each man is charged with one count of destroying records in a federal investigation and multiple counts of deprivation of the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. Alcala pleaded not guilty in an arraignment on Friday and McKnight pleaded not guilty in a Thursday arraignment, court records show.

At least three lawsuits involving six plaintiffs have been filed in federal court against Alcala and the city of Florissant relating to the same allegations made in his indictment.

In one of the lawsuits against Alcala, a female plaintiff alleged that after he pulled her over in Florissant and took her phone, ostensibly to check her insurance in February, she noticed a deleted text message sent at the time of the traffic stop.

The lawsuit alleges Alcala found a video of the woman having sex and texted the video from her phone to his. That woman, having found the deleted message and realizing the video was sent from her phone to a number she didn’t recognize, contacted the FBI, her attorney, J.C. Pleban, told CNN affiliate KSDK.

The lawsuits also allege either that Alcala showed the nude images to other people, or that people have seen the images because of him.

CNN has sought comment from Pleban, other plaintiffs’ attorneys, the attorneys representing Florissant in the lawsuits against it, an attorney for McKnight, and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

One of Alcala’s attorneys, Scott Rosenblum, told CNN Saturday he was reviewing evidence in the case.

‘A shocking degradation’

The Florissant Police Department said in a Facebook post they learned about the allegations against Alcala in June, when the FBI in St. Louis informed them of the investigation into the officer. Alcala “immediately resigned” and the “department fully cooperated with the investigation,” the post says.

The department described itself as “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.” They had “no knowledge of any illegal activity or improper behavior by Alcala” and had received no complaints about him during his employment, the post says. No other members of the police department were involved, according to the post.

One lawsuit filed against Alcala and Florissant on October 22 alleges that during two traffic stops for a broken taillight, he took pictures of nude photos of the unnamed plaintiff. The lawsuit claims he “observed those photos himself, and also distributed the photos to others.” The victim didn’t know about the photos until an FBI agent contacted her months later, the suit says.

In an email to CNN, W. Bevis Schock, an attorney representing the plaintiff in the October 22nd lawsuit, said of Alcala’s alleged actions: “The most important question is why? The answer, I think, is power.”

Another lawsuit was filed against Alcala and Florissant on October 28 on behalf of four anonymous victims, and another on behalf of an anonymous victim on November 14.

The October 28 lawsuit describes Alcala’s alleged actions as “a shocking degradation, an egregious humiliation and a flagrant breach of confidentiality.”

Alcala committed “a brutal abuse of official power that shocks the conscience,” the suit says. The suit also frames the incidents as sex-based discrimination, noting that Alcala only took photos and videos from women’s phones.

All three lawsuits also accuse Florissant. The October 28 lawsuit argues that the city “demonstrated deliberate indifference to or tacit authorization of the
Defendants’ misconduct after notice” and that it had failed to properly train or supervise officers “when they engaged in constitutional violations.”

‘Really violating’

McKnight, while working for the Missouri State Highway Patrol, searched through victims’ cell phones between September 1, 2023 and August 19, 2024, according to the indictment. Seven of the counts specify he took photographs of nude images he found on the victims’ phones, which were found on McKnight’s cell phone.

In two of the incidents, McKnight took the alleged victims’ phones after arresting them, the indictment says. In the other cases, he told the alleged victims he was checking their insurance coverage or identification before searching through their phones without a warrant or probable cause.

The destroying records count alleges that McKnight “deleted or attempted to delete those images from his cell phone.”

McKnight was arrested in August and charged with six counts of felony invasion of privacy in New Madrid and Scott counties, according to CNN affiliate KFVS. He pleaded not guilty to those charges, KFVS reported. CNN has reached out to the prosecuting attorneys in both counties for comment. He resigned from the Missouri State Highway Patrol on August 26, the patrol told CNN.

“Employees are required to safeguard the rights of everyone, obey all laws and are prohibited from performing any act that constitutes a violation of any law,” the patrol said in an email.

One of the former state trooper’s alleged victims described her experience as “really violating” in an interview with KFVS.

Emily Northern said McKnight pulled her over in late July for expired vehicle registration tags. When she showed him her insurance on her cell phone, he asked to take it back to his car, KFVS reported.

“I was uncomfortable with it, but I didn’t want to argue with him,” Northern told KFVS.

When he returned her phone, she looked at her screen time and could see that he had spent 5 minutes looking through her photos and was on her Snapchat account, she said.

She reported the encounter to his supervisor, she said.

“I was a mess. I was crying,” Northern said, according to KFVS. “It was such an awful feeling knowing he was going through my phone, like I’ve got private personal photos of me.”

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