A police investigation has found the man arrested following an altercation outside of Louise Van Meter Elementary school—where he was accused of taking upskirt-style imagery—had collected a trove of similar videos since 2023—including of girls outside a Los Gatos school, at Starbucks, at the Los Gatos Farmers Market, near a Whole Foods building, at the Bay Club pool and at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
Investigators didn’t find any child porn, however, the clips generally focused on the buttocks region of 11-13-year-old girls.
According to police notes, the suspect’s wife was “upset” in the wake of her husband’s detention in August, but “did not appear to be overly surprised about the arrest.”
So far, 25 victims (on 50 relevant videos) have been identified.
“When including unidentified children, there was 127 instances of children” being recorded illicitly, according to a Sept. 2 report authored by Heather Murphy, who joined the local police force in 2024.
John Alan Hale faces six counts of annoying or molesting a minor. The accusations have not been proven in a court of law.
The investigation kicked-off on August, 28, a Thursday morning, when police learned of a fight between two men outside of Louise Van Meter Elementary School.
The parent who got into the tussle with Hale said he’d noticed the suspect with a cellphone in his hand with a wallet covering the majority of the device in a manner that suggested he was attempting to conceal the device while recording, per the police report.
John was walking directly behind two minors who were by themselves.
“Hi girls,” he called out, trying to see if they knew Hale, according to a witness statement.
Suddenly, the suspect dashed away, but he got trapped in an area between a fence and a group of people—at which point the fight occurred—per the testimony gathered in the immediate aftermath.
The entire time, Hale’s cellphone appeared to still be in recording mode, said the parent—who sustained abrasions to his hands, legs and feet, as well as a scratch on his face.
One officer, Justine Theilen, asked Hale what had just happened.
“Nothing,” he replied, then asked for his lawyer, according to her notes.
Detectives responded to the scene and began to understand that this wasn’t just a one-off incident.
A school employee had already reported a man had attempted to grab a child by her backpack and arm.
During their investigation, detectives learned that Hale is a quiet guy who likes to spend time using his mobile device for unspecified activities, and who has a drinking problem (one that flares up when Hale gets stressed out about his duties at Lockheed Martin).
Det. Riley Frizzell participated in the search of Hale’s home and took the suspect’s phone to the Santa Clara County Regional Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT) for forensic examination; DA’s Office investigator John Alldredge assisted with data extraction duties.
Both desktop computers at Hale’s home were probed, but no relevant items were uncovered. They also searched his work laptop.
On Aug. 29, Judge Elizabeth Manassau signed a warrant forcing T-Mobile to turn over Hale’s cell data records.
Meanwhile, Murphy was proceeding with the delicate task of gathering witness statements from victims.
One girl said Hale grabbed her backpack, adding “she thought maybe Hale was going to kidnap her,” according to Murphy’s report.
Why didn’t he grab all of the kids? the girl wondered, as she became quieter, per the official document.
The girl escaped by running away about .3 miles with her sister, when the parent intervened.
Another parent told police about an incident from the week before that she believed Hale may have been involved in.
According to her, the man was slumped on a bench, wearing a hat and facing the roadway.
“The male had his cellphone out, in a horizontal view, and angled in a manner that would have made it difficult to watch something on the phone,” the police report of the testimony states, suggesting Hale could’ve been trying to record girls in selfie mode.
This mom identified Hale with 50% confidence out of a photo lineup.
