A group of women whose nude images were taken from their cellphones by a police officer in Missouri agreed on Friday to a $4 million settlement in a lawsuit over his actions, a lawyer for the victims said.
The former officer, Julian Alcala, 31, had illegally searched the phones of 20 women for nude images between February and May 2024 while employed by the Florissant Police Department in Eastern Missouri, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Mr. Alcala used his phone to photograph the images. The illegal activity was discovered when he sent himself a video and tried to delete the evidence from the victim’s phone, the Justice Department said.
He pleaded guilty in December to 20 counts of deprivation of rights, according to the department, and in March was sentenced to two years in prison.
The defendants settled “only to buy their peace” and denied any liability, according to a statement from a lawyer for the victims, Talmage E. Newton IV.
The settlement, which was reached among the victims, Mr. Alcala and the city of Florissant, represents the full amount of insurance coverage purchased by Florissant and all the funds that were available to the plaintiffs, the statement said.
The Florissant Police Department and a lawyer for Mr. Alcala did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday.
During traffic stops, Mr. Alcala had taken mobile phones from drivers back to his patrol car, claiming that he needed them to confirm insurance coverage or vehicle registration.
He then searched through the phones for images of the victims “in a partial or full state of nudity” and then take photographs with his own cellphone, according to the Justice Department.
In one instance, Mr. Alcala forwarded a video of a woman to his own cellphone. The victim noticed that the video had been sent and reported the breach to the F.B.I., the Justice Department said. When the Florissant Police Department was informed by the F.B.I. of its investigation, Mr. Alcala resigned from the department.
Mr. Alcala was employed by the department for 11 months in Florissant, a city of a little more than 50,000 people that is about 20 miles northwest of St. Louis. While on the force, no complaints or accusations of misconduct were filed against him, the department said in 2024.
In an unrelated case that surfaced the same week as Mr. Alcala’s, a former Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper, David McKnight, was indicted and accused of searching women’s cellphones for nude images during traffic stops, according to the Justice Department.
In April, Mr. McKnight, 40, was sentenced to 21 months in prison. He had pleaded guilty in December to nine counts of deprivation of rights, the Justice Department said.
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