A former California State Parks superintendent who allegedly placed a hidden camera in a Bolsa Chica locker room to film at least 23 male lifeguards in the nude has been charged with felonies — and the state of California is now facing a civil lawsuit over it.

Kevin Pearsall, 59, who ran the Orange County Coast District for California State Parks from 2023 until he retired last year under investigation, turned himself in this week on charges that he abused his law enforcement authority to surveil subordinates in one of the most intimate settings imaginable. The case raises sharp questions about workplace accountability within a state agency — and about who bears legal responsibility when a sworn official spies on the people he supervised.

Kevin Pearsall spent three decades with California State Parks, the last two years as the superintendent overseeing Orange County's coast, a sworn law enforcement position that put him in charge of the men and women who guard the state's most heavily visited beaches. According to the Orange County District Attorney's Office, he used that authority to watch them undress.

Prosecutors allege that sometime during the summer of 2024, Pearsall placed a hidden camera — disguised as a USB device — inside the men's locker room at the Bolsa Chica State Beach headquarters in Huntington Beach. The device allegedly captured footage of lifeguards while they were nude. At least 23 male adult victims have been identified.

The investigation began in July 2025, when a sworn California State Parks officer found the device in the locker room but did not initially recognize what it was, according to the DA's office. "He didn't realize that it was actually a hidden camera," said Kimberly Edds, director of public affairs for the Orange County DA, speaking at a press conference this week.

Prosecutors say Pearsall didn't stop at recording. On some occasions, he allegedly shared the footage with two other men, "making really sexual, inappropriate comments about these individuals as they're just doing their job," Edds said.

Attorney Ron Zambrano, who is representing one of the victims, described a pattern of deliberate targeting. "He had a particular fascination with certain employees. My client ended up being one of them," Zambrano told ABC7. His client was a State Parks Peace Officer-Lifeguard assigned to Bolsa Chica. Zambrano added that Pearsall allegedly steered favored employees toward senior lockers at the back of the room — the area closest to the camera. "Apparently, it was very common for Pearsall to encourage people that he liked, I guess, to get the more senior lockers near the back which ended up being where the cameras were."

Pearsall is charged with 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 charges, he faces a maximum sentence of nearly 19 years in Orange County Jail. He turned himself in Tuesday and is scheduled to appear in court in August. Eyewitness News reported it could not reach him for comment.

The California Highway Patrol served search warrants in connection with the case, and Pearsall retired from the department shortly afterward — having worked for State Parks since 1994. "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, adding it would not comment further given the active criminal case.

Orange County DA Todd Spitzer framed the case as a betrayal of public trust: "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."

Beyond the criminal charges, Zambrano announced he is filing a civil complaint against the state of California on behalf of his client, alleging harassment and failure to prevent harassment. "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. That civil case will likely test how far California's employer liability extends when a sworn official weaponizes workplace access against subordinates.

The victims in the criminal case were all adults. "They were being preyed on in the most intimate and disgustingly violative way," Edds said.