The Orange County District Attorney’s office has charged former Fullerton Police Officer Jose Anthony Paez with one count of taking an upskirt photo of a 16-year-old high school student, according to a DA news release sent out today.
“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,” states the news release. “The Fullerton Police Department initiated an internal investigation into accusations that Officer Jose Anthony Paez was acting inappropriately while on duty. The investigation spanned the last five years of the officer’s on-duty interaction with the public.”
According to the DA’s office, the investigation discovered “several photos and video clips” that had been taken on Paez’s personal cell phone back in November 2017. These photos “were shot up the skirt of a 16-year-old high school student while Paez was conducting a police investigation on school grounds,” according to the DA’s news release.
According to this story from the Tribe Tribune, Fullerton Union High School’s newspaper, Paez took over as School Resource Officer there around March 2017.
Paez left the Fullerton PD in May of this year. Lt. Jon Radus, the public information officer for the Fullerton PD, would not comment as to whether today’s charge had anything to do with Paez leaving the department three months ago. DA spokesperson Kimberly Edds said she “do[es] not know the details of his separation from the department.”
“As the elected District Attorney, I am charged with judging the conduct of police officers,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer says in the news release. “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 joined the Fullerton PD in 2011. He was the subject of this glowing 2016 Behind the Badge story by Greg Hardesty. In the story, Hardesty described the officer as a “real arresting presence” in the department, and reported that he once wore “Declaration of Independence pants and a shirt covered in U.S. flags” to a golf tournament.
“Paez, 26, is a poster child of sorts for the Fullerton PD’s emphasis, over the last few years, on proactive policing — officers being very visible in the communities they patrol, initiating contact with the public when warranted and getting to know the residents in their beat,” stated the Behind the Badge story. “Paez was recognized last fall by top Fullerton PD brass at a monthly community policing and crime strategy meeting for arresting an eye-popping 14 people over a span of three days (most officers average two to three arrests per shift.”
Eye-popping?
In any case, Paez will be arraigned on Oct. 2 at the North Justice Center in Fullerton. “It is a misdemeanor so he will get an arraignment letter,” Edds said when I asked if there was a booking photo of Paez. “He has not been arrested.”
If convicted, Paez faces a maximum of one year in the Orange County Jail.
Anthony Pignataro has been a journalist since 1996. He spent a dozen years as Editor of MauiTime, the last alt weekly in Hawaii. He also wrote three trashy novels about Maui, which were published by Event Horizon Press. But he got his start at OC Weekly, and returned to the paper in 2019 as a Staff Writer.
“As the elected District Attorney, I am charged with judging the conduct of police officers,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer says in the news release. “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 will be arraigned on Oct. 2 at the North Justice Center in Fullerton. “It is a misdemeanor so he will get an arraignment letter,” Edds said when I asked if there was a booking photo of Paez. “He has not been arrested.
And That´s The Best You´ve Got Toddy boy.
The Newest master in Orange County Cover-Ups, business as Usual
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer quotes “I am charged with judging the conduct of police officers” Yes he is and he does a great job of looking the other way when any officer is accused of misconduct,
Why has he not been arrested? I was a student when he worked at Fullerton Highschool and he deserves to die in prison for the trust he ruined and advantage he took of innocent students. I’m surprised he’s not being charged with possession of child pornography. The fact that he had power to force students to unlock their phones on campus and search through them however he wanted is disgusting. And I know he was never allowed to be in a room with a student alone without an administrator, so how did he get away with this? Why should we trust any police? They have too much power. Especially heinous considering he was so respected in the department. Where is the accountability??? We need police for the police at this point.
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