Fullerton Officer Paez Charged with Filming up 16yo Student’s Skirt

Jose Paez (left) with his former Captain Tom Oliveras. Both have been charged with crimes in the last year.

Former Fullerton Police Department School Resource Officer Jose Anthony Paez has been charged with a misdemeanor.

From the District Attorney’s Press Release:

FORMER FULLERTON POLICE SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER CHARGED FOR VIDEOTAPING UP HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT’S SKIRT

SANTA ANA, 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 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.

The internal investigation revealed several photos and video clips taken on Paez’ personal cell phone in November 2017 that were shot up the skirt of a 16-year-old high school student while Paez was conducting a police investigation on school grounds.

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 is scheduled to be arraigned on October 2, 2019 at the North Justice Center in Fullerton. He faces a maximum of one year in the Orange County Jail if convicted.

Deputy District Attorney Laila Nikaien is prosecuting the case.

A quick phone call to the DA’s office reveals that Paez is being charged with PC 647(j)(2):

“(2) A person who uses a concealed camcorder, motion picture camera, or photographic camera of any type, to secretly videotape, film, photograph, or record by electronic means, another identifiable person under or through the clothing being worn by that other person, for the purpose of viewing the body of, or the undergarments worn by, that other person, without the consent or knowledge of that other person, with the intent to arouse, appeal to, or gratify the lust, passions, or sexual desires of that person and invade the privacy of that other person, under circumstances in which the other person has a reasonable expectation of privacy. For the purposes of this paragraph, “identifiable” means capable of identification, or capable of being recognized, meaning that someone could identify or recognize the victim, including the victim herself or himself. It does not require the victim’s identity to actually be established.”

The DA’s office seems to essentially be charging him with peeping when there are questions of possession of child pornography in the audit conducted by Fullerton Police.

The Fullerton Police Department issued a Press Release written to show how awesome they are and how committed to openness and accountability they are – despite have little to no details in the release itself.

The closest we get to details is as follows:

“When the criminal investigation concluded, Fullerton detectives requested the Orange County District Attorney’s Office to review the case for filing criminal charges against Officer Paez, whose employment with the Department ended in May 2019.”

Notice how as don’t even get to know if Paez was allowed to resign or if he was fired. The Press Release then goes on to extoll the unearned virtues of FPD:

“We are committed to being first to hold accountable those within our organization who do not meet the high standards we set for ourselves. That is exactly what happened in this case.”

This is the same city/department that worked out a settlement agreement with an officer to expunge Internal Investigations into her conduct specifically to bypass disclosure laws.

That settlement agreement, and this story about officer Paez are two of the things we wrote about a couple of months ago are some of the stories that led to the City of Fullerton threatening us with prosecution for telling you things we think you have a right to know about but they want kept quiet.

Prepare for City Manager Ken Domer, Police Chief Bob Dunn and the entire council and school board to keep you in the dark as this “ongoing case” works through the system. The city has yet to even give us a date for when Paez left the force or who’s phone the child pornography that FPD found in their audit was on – Paez’s personal one or his department issued phone. Nor have they explained why an officer had student sexts and underage pornography on any device so easily accessed.

Is this just another case of a badge giving somebody a slap on the wrist when a civilian would have been prosecuted to the full extent of the law?

53 Replies to “Fullerton Officer Paez Charged with Filming up 16yo Student’s Skirt”

  1. Absolutely is! Quite frankly if FFFF has not exposed this months ago nobody would have been any the wiser. Shame on this officer who abused his power and trust. And, shame on FPD and FUHS administrators for keeping this under wraps and away from parents. But, goes right along the lines of continued misconduct, lack of transparency from officials and leadership in this city. I’m sure a full investigation into FUHS administrators would also expose them hiding a lot of misconduct in including a out of control on campus drug problem they’ve swept under the rug away from parents too. Disgusting !

  2. Is the school district going to let parents know that they let a perv cop malign their children for years?

    1. Of course not. Just like FUHS administrators and the school district don’t inform the parents of all other gross misconduct on the campus that they’ve been “ dealing with “ behind closed doors amongst themselves for YEARS.

    2. Of course not. Just like administrators and the school district don’t inform the parents of all other gross misconduct on the campus that they’ve been “ dealing with “ behind closed doors for years.

  3. Maybe they should pick officers for the schools who are at least as mature as the student s they police this one seems severely lacking in maturity good sense and some moral fiber

  4. Why no picture of the perp, Lonnie? FPD would have the mug of a civilian posted before the ink on the the arrest report was dry.

  5. What accountability does the school district , Fullerton principal, and all the assistant principals have for keeping this hush hush. …..

      1. Fullerton highschool administration keeps everything VERY quiet. Criminal is what it is. The drug problem on their campus they still have never addressed with parents, why their longtime track coach , Joe Gobar, quietly left, they especially like to protect their star male athletes from all their gross misconduct too. Administration loves to hide and cover up

  6. I don’t think that lardo could chase down a rolling donut. Typical recruit. Did he graduate HS or was he at the same academic level as the kids he was peeping?

  7. Wait a minute. Is that clown a cop or a barista at Starbucks. Aren’t the job qualifications different?

    1. You actually need to be good under pressure to be a barista b/c you don’t get qualified immunity if you’re a dickhead at Starbucks.

  8. One thing I’ve noticed in all these cop scandals is how the DA always refers to the creepy (thief, rapist, drug addict, swindler, pickpocket, batterer, wife-beater, swindler) as a “former” police officer. The idea is to insulate the integrity of “law enforcement” from the rotten things the members thereof inflict upon the people they’re supposed to be protecting. The subtle message is: house has been cleaned, nothing really to see here, folks.

    And that gives me an idea for a post.

  9. Why weren’t parents informed IMMEDIATELY?

    How many assaults went unreported because a girl was afraid to report a cop?

  10. Wonder how many warnings, red flags, complaints Fullerton HS administration received in regards to this officer from parents, students and ignored or turned a blind eye too? This officer was known as pervert Paez on campus so clearly students were very intuitive to his character. FPD investigated and their year long investigation only turned up this one incident? I call BS on FPD and not being transparent and forthcoming on everything he was investigated for and should be charged with. I call BS on Fullerton HS administration as well for not informing parents and seeing if there are anymore possible victims. Were potential victims even notified? This officer had access to and checked many students phones!

    1. Looks like they didn’t learn anything from the Nicholas Jr. High scandal. Pathetic!

    2. Our family called the Fullerton Police Department to complain about officer Paez and how he conducted an interview with our daughter on her school campus in the spring of 2018. Sgt. Radus told us that how Paez behaved was standard procedure and blew us off, only to find out they began investigating him shortly after. When my daughter saw his face on a news teaser this week she instantly gasped out loud, started to cry while screaming “that’s the guy!” A scab and scar that has been healing for the last 18 months was ripped off again! Thank you to this website for reporting on the things that this officer has done, far more than just take photos up a girls skirt. Many girls and boys were violated and not just students at FHS. Paez went off campus to other high schools in the district for “investigations” as well.
      I’m hoping to connect with parents who had similar incidents and that we can maybe go together to his arraignment on October 2nd. Maybe bring pictures of our children to put faces to the names? Could you help us Friends of Fullerton? Just thinking out loud and not going to just let this go.

      1. Emails or documentation is the key really. Dates and times of when things happened. This is going to get swept under the rug as much as possible and the Dept won’t change at all unless they get nailed on how they run things and ignore blight in their own department. Maybe get a group together with those photos and stories and share them at public comments at a city council meeting.

      2. Principal Rubio, Belinda Mountjoy, and Steve Garcia were WELL aware of parent and student complaints in regards to Officer Paez. They had many warnings and red flags and also chose to dismiss it all and sweep it under the rug. Majority of the girls on campus referred to him as Pervert Paez and administration even acknowledged the complaints against him. Many girls who graduated out are all talking about how he even would DM them on Instagram telling them they were hot. Lines, boundaries crossed and deaf ears with Fullerton HS administration who also should be held accountable for their lack of transparency, hiding, and covering up. I hope EVERY student who was, felt violated , intimidated by this Officer shows up and uses their voice. And, I hope everyone from the school district to Fullerton HS administrators are there to look these kids in the eye and explain why they chose to cover their asses and jobs over protecting them.

      3. I, too, am an angry mamma bear. If you have any further info on this case, I will gladly help mobilize parents to show up in court. I understand Paez’ pre-trial was scheduled for December 2nd but can’t find any additional info.

  11. At least the resource officer at Nicolas was banging a teacher and not a student and you should have seen that clown of a principal “Dr Barnett” when the cops wife showed up wanting to kick that teachers ass that her husband was banging. It all worked out great for the clown principal with his promotion. Typical of anything related to Fullerton government promote the most inept person you can find.

  12. looks ripe for a plea deal where he won’t have to register as a sex offender. Which he clearly is…..

          1. I don’t think I’ll ever need one to threaten the paramedics helping me, to take a photo of my daughter’s underwear, or to beat the crap out of me for walking by.

            Those were the last three charges of FPD officers, two while on duty.

            Why would I ever call an institution for help that has a higher crime ratio than the general Fullerton population?

            1. Don’t forget the FPD police officer who sexually assaulted another FPD daughter in a DTF parking structure. Once again if it wasn’t for FFFF we wouldn’t know about that pervert either! FPD isn’t transparent ….. they keep getting exposed then forced to play the look how transparent we are , A YEAR LATER, card.

  13. 100% of the FPD force watched the Kelly Thomas video tape and saw no problem. Therefore, all of those on the force at that time, plus those hired by them, have to be consider tainted by the awful stain of Kelly’s death.

  14. Jose Paez total 2017 pay and benefits $211,902.87
    Tom Oliveras 2017 total pay and benefits $303,840.52

  15. Can’t even get across the thin blue line to criticize a piece of shit like this.

    Pathetic.

  16. I understand that Paez pled not-guilty at October arraignment and a’ pre-trial was set for December 2nd. Anyone have any updates?

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