Upskirt Photos And Video of Teens And Women Snapped Via iPhone -- Thousands of Them -- Land SoCal Suspect Julio Cesar Garcia in Jail

Daniel Bagel

This photo is illegal in California.

Escondido police hunted the suspect down for months and then took even more time to crack the password on his iPhone, where 2100 photos and videos of random women were stored, Lt. Craig Carter told the Weekly.

They did it all without a search warrant because ...

... in California cops can search your phone if they arrest you. A bill that would have put a stop to that was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown, the civil libertarian.

Anyway, investigators in this case probably could have gotten a warrant if they needed to.

The guy was originally spotted in a store in July allegedly doing his thing, Carter said. The concerned retailer sent surveillance video to the Escondido P.D., and the chase was on.

The suspect they tracked down was named as Julio Cesar Garcia of nearby Valley Center. The 22-year-old liked to take pics and video up the skirts of distracted women, usually in shopping situations, cops allege.

He even snapped a shot of a mom as her 4-year-old daughter was next to her, Carter said.

Garcia's alleged victims ranged in age from 15 to 32, but there is one senior-citizen-aged women spotted in the evidence, cops claim.

At one point the suspect allegedly targeted a group of high school girls at a bus stop next to a campus.

He hit ice cream parlors, gas stations, pet stores, high-end retailers, you name it, cops say.

Of all the images, there were only 100 where faces could be seen and women could be ID'd, Carter said.

Only four victims have been located, he said.

Garcia was booked and later charged on suspicion of secretly filming under or through clothing, Carter said. Twenty four counts worth. We had to look this one up:

Any 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 ...

He was also hit with 2 counts of suspicion of annoying or molesting a child and one count of suspicion of loitering near children, Carter said.

Garcia was expected to be arraigned today. Carter:

He was very brazen and didn't seem to be fearful of getting caught. He was very comfortable with what he was doing.

Anyone who thinks they might have been a victim of the suspect was asked to call Escondido police at 760-743-TIPS.

[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com]