{"id":373604,"date":"2026-06-24T22:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T22:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/373604\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T22:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T22:21:11","slug":"o-c-lifeguard-sues-boss-who-illegally-filmed-mens-locker-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/373604\/","title":{"rendered":"O.C. lifeguard sues boss who illegally filmed men’s locker room"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The same day Orange County prosecutors announced charges against<\/a> a former state parks superintendent who allegedly recorded lifeguards changing in a men\u2019s locker room and shared the images with friends, an attorney for one of the victims is speaking out.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles trial lawyer Ron Zambrino shared Wednesday the details of a lawsuit<\/a> filed by an unnamed employee against Kevin Pearsall, who oversaw California State Parks\u2019 Coastal District 5 from 2023 to 2025, and the department itself, claiming Pearsall\u2019s recordings constituted harassment and created a hostile work environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a devastating shock to him on many levels,\u201d Zambrino said of his client, an Orange County resident in his 20s, one of 23 victims identified so far.<\/p>\n

Filed in Orange County Superior Court on Tuesday \u2014 the day that 59-year-old Pearsall, a Long Beach resident, turned himself in to authorities and was released on his own recognizance \u2014 the complaint sheds light on allegations involving the superintendent, including rumors about questionable financial dealings in the department.<\/p>\n

Identified in the complaint as \u201cJohn Doe,\u201d the plaintiff began working as a seasonal lifeguard at Crystal Cove State Park in 2018 and was later hired as a full-time state park peace officer reporting to Bolsa Chica State Beach headquarters.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where Pearsall is believed to have covertly installed video-recording devices<\/a> that captured footage of numerous lifeguard employees, including John Doe, in states of undress. Prosecutors claim the superintendent, whose LinkedIn profile states he retired in September 2025, disseminated those materials with friends.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors further contend the criminally obtained videos, seized during the execution of a search warrant in July 2025, were recorded during an 11-month period beginning in August 2024, though Tuesday\u2019s lawsuit indicates recordings could date back to 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn reviewing what they recovered, it became apparent there were certain folks Pearsall apparently liked to have pictures of \u2014 my client was one of them,\u201d Zambrino told the Daily Pilot. \u201cHe will be dealing with the ramifications and the impacts of this for the rest of his life. It\u2019s a betrayal from a boss and someone he thought of as a mentor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suit describes how law enforcement authorities executed a search warrant to the Bolsa Chica lifeguard headquarters building on Pacific Coast Highway in July 2025, employing the use of electronic device-sniffing dogs but saying little to employees at the time.<\/p>\n

Some believed the search may have been related to \u201cprevious investigations\u201d involving the superintendent, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaintiffs and others were given no explanation for the warrant, but \u2014 based on Pearsall\u2019s prior reputation \u2014 they immediately assumed the operation related to \u2018embezzlement\u2019 rather than some other misconduct,\u201d the complaint reads.<\/p>\n

Zambrino said rumors had circulated about the superintendent possibly involving himself in contracts with vendors who do business on the beach, but stated he did not know whether such claims may have been the subject of an official investigation.<\/p>\n

John Doe reportedly remained unaware about the nature of the July 2025 search warrant until January 2026, when he was informed by sheriff\u2019s department officials he\u2019d been identified as one of an initial 12 victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were in the dark about what was being looked at,\u201d the attorney said. \u201cThey knew it was Pearsall and they connected the dots, but they didn\u2019t know what he was doing or the extent of what he was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit describes a \u201cback lockers\u201d section of the changing area Pearsall \u201cseemingly encouraged Plaintiff and other peace officers to use for \u2018privacy,\u2019 thereby driving them into the cameras\u2019 field of view.\u201d<\/p>\n

It alleges more than 2 million digital images dating as far back as 2019 may have been recorded and states that youth aides and seasonal lifeguards as young as 15 regularly use the locker room to change clothes, shower and store gear.<\/p>\n

Zambrino\u2019s client seeks compensation for special damages, including but not limited to lost wages and benefits, as well as general damages relating to the plaintiff\u2019s emotional distress, punitive damages against Pearsall and legal fees.<\/p>\n

While the former superintendent is scheduled to appear in court for an Aug. 6 arraignment hearing, no official court date has yet been set for any civil proceedings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The same day Orange County prosecutors announced charges against a former state parks superintendent who allegedly recorded lifeguards…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,8533,729,6246,29333,5679,1846,103893,28955,151467,1437,7214,9981,27854,2601,151468],"class_list":["post-373604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-client","tag-complaint","tag-department","tag-john-doe","tag-july","tag-lawsuit","tag-lifeguard","tag-locker-room","tag-pearsall","tag-plaintiff","tag-prosecutor","tag-search-warrant","tag-superintendent","tag-victim","tag-zambrino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}