FULLERTON, Calif. - A former Fullerton Police Department school resource officer has been charged with secretly photographing and videotaping up the skirt of a 16-year-old high school student, the district attorney's office announced Monday.
An internal investigation by the Fullerton Police Department revealed that Officer Jose Anthony Paez had taken several photos and videos on his personal cell phone up the skirt of a 16-year-old high school student while Paez was conducting a police investigation on school grounds in November 2017.
Authorities did not disclose which school Paez was assigned to at the time of the alleged crime.
Paez stopped working for the Fullerton Police Department in May 2019. The Fullerton Police Department referred the case to the District Attorney’s Office for criminal prosecution.
“As the elected District Attorney, I am charged with judging the conduct of police officers,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “Law enforcement officers are entrusted with a tremendous amount of authority and trust. The actions this officer engaged in betrayed that trust and preyed on the very people he was charged with protecting.”
Paez faces a maximum of one year in the Orange County Jail if convicted. He is scheduled to be arraigned on October 2, 2019, at the North Justice Center in Fullerton.
Fullerton Police Chief, Bob Dunn, said in a statement: “We fully support the decision by our District Attorney to file charges in this case. All Fullerton Police Department employees understand the high expectations of the profession of policing and support accountability when those expectations are not met. We remain committed to continuing our mission of building trust in our community and situations likes, which paint all of us in a negative light, only strengthen our commitment to that mission.”