Former California State Parks Superintendent Charged with Recording Naked Lifeguards in Bolsa Chica State Beach Locker Room, Distributing Images to Friends

Former California State Parks Superintendent Charged with Recording Naked Lifeguards
in Bolsa Chica State Beach Locker Room, Distributing Images to Friends

SANTA ANA - A former California State Parks Superintendent has been charged with secretly filming nearly two dozen naked state lifeguards and other workers inside an employee locker room at the Bolsa Chica State Beach Lifeguard Headquarters in Huntington Beach and sending nude images of three different victims to two other men.

Kevin Pearsall, 59, of Long Beach, has been charged with five felony counts of eavesdropping, 23 misdemeanor counts of secretly filming another, and three misdemeanor counts of unlawful dissemination of private recordings. He faces a maximum sentence of 18 years and eight months in the Orange County Jail if convicted on all counts.

Pearsall turned himself in on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, on a $500,00 arrest warrant and was released by a judge on his own recognizance. He is scheduled to be arraigned at the Stephen K. Tamura West Justice Center in Westminster on August 6, 2026, in Department W-12.

In July 2025, a sworn California State Park officer discovered a USB stick in the men's employee locker room at Bolsa Chica State Beach Lifeguard Headquarters, and after reviewing the content which included videos of state employees undressing in the locker room, California State Parks contacted the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to conduct an investigation into the USB stick which contained a hidden camera.

The CHP investigation revealed California State Parks Superintendent Kevin Pearsall was responsible for placing hidden cameras in the locker room, which recorded both audio and video, and using the hidden cameras to record numerous videos over an 11-month period beginning in August 2024.

From 2023 through July of 2025, Pearsall served as a California State Parks Superintendent, which is a sworn law enforcement position overseeing the management and operations of state parks in the Orange Coast District, including Orange County.

Pearsall was employed by California State Parks since 1994 until he retired in July 2025 after he was placed on administrative leave while under investigation.

The employee locker room at Bolsa Chica State Park is not open to the public, but it is accessible to full-time personnel, seasonal lifeguards, office staff, maintenance, and park aides. The hidden camera captured both audio and video from August 2024 through July 2025 when the USB stick was discovered.

The CHP investigation identified 23 different men who had their genitals or buttocks filmed by the hidden camera placed in the employee locker room by Pearsall. None of the men agreed to be recorded.

Pearsall is accused of sending several of the photographs he recorded of nude or partially nude men in the locker room to two men, and making sexually charged comments about his employees' genitals.

"Instead of protecting his employees, Pearsall used his position to spy on the men who worked for him while they were in the place where they should have been the safest and then share those intimate images of his victims," said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. "These victims had their privacy violated in such a disgusting way, and we will do everything we can to ensure they receive the justice they deserve."

Senior Deputy District Attorney Stephanie Caughlin of the Sexual Assault Unit is prosecuting this case.

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