Former State Parks Exec Secretly Filmed Nude Lifeguards
Prosecutors allege Kevin Pearsall used hidden cameras to record lifeguards and other employees in a California beach locker room.
A former California State Parks superintendent in Orange County has been released on bond after being accused of secretly recording lifeguards in a men’s locker room.
Prosecutors allege that Kevin Pearsall, 59, placed hidden cameras in the men’s employee locker room at the Bolsa Chica State Beach Lifeguard Headquarters in Huntington Beach in August 2024. According to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, the cameras recorded both audio and video, capturing lifeguards and other state employees in various states of undress over an 11-month period.
In July 2025, a California State Parks officer discovered a USB stick in the men’s employee locker room. After reviewing its contents, the agency contacted the California Highway Patrol to investigate. Authorities later determined the device contained a hidden camera.
The California Highway Patrol investigation identified at least 23 victims — all adult men — whose genitals or buttocks were recorded by the hidden camera. None had consented to being filmed.
Prosecutors allege that Pearsall shared some of the images with two other men, making sexually charged comments about the State Parks employees’ genitals.
Pearsall, who served as a California State Parks superintendent from 2023 to 2025, worked for the agency for nearly 31 years, from 1994 until retiring in July 2025. He retired while on administrative leave amid the investigation into the hidden cameras.
After surrendering to authorities on June 23, he was released on his own recognizance. An arraignment is scheduled for August 6 at the Stephen K. Tamura West Justice Center in Westminster, California.
He faces five felony counts of eavesdropping, 23 misdemeanor counts of secretly filming another person, and three misdemeanor counts of unlawfully disseminating private recordings. If convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum sentence of 18 years and eight months in prison.
“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,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement.
“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.”
Rob Zambrano, an attorney representing one of the alleged victims, called the covert filming “disgusting.” He said his client, whose name has not been released, was working as a State Parks peace officer-lifeguard assigned to Bolsa Chica State Beach when he was recorded.
“[Pearsall] had a particular fascination with certain employees,” Zambrano told Los Angeles-area ABC affiliate KABC. “My client ended up being one of them.”
Zambrano told the outlet he is filing a civil complaint against the state of California, alleging harassment and a failure to prevent it. “The state of California, as the law has been written, is responsible for Pearsall’s unlawful conduct because he’s been put in a position of power,” he said.
“California State Parks takes these charges very seriously and has fully cooperated with law enforcement through every step of the investigation,” the agency said in a statement to KABC. “Upon being alerted to these serious criminal allegations, State Parks immediately contacted the California Highway Patrol and requested an investigation. As this is an active criminal case, State Parks will not comment further at this time.”
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