Bell police officer James Ixcoy, 30, was arrested Monday after he allegedly placed a GPS tracking device on his ex-girlfriend’s car.
Ixcoy faces one felony count of accessing and using computer data without permission and one misdemeanor count of unlawful use of an electronic tracking device. He was arrested on Aug. 3 following an independent investigation conducted by the Bell Gardens Police Department.
On July 17, Ixcoy allegedly ran a DMV registration inquiry without permission on a car belonging to a man who had also dated his ex-girlfriend.
The DA detailed the pattern of abuse in public statements.
“Mr. Ixcoy, a sworn law enforcement officer, is accused of going to great lengths to secretly and surreptitiously find information about two people who were totally unaware he was abusing his authority as a police officer,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman.
One day later, on Aug. 18, Ixcoy allegedly placed a GPS tracker on his former girlfriend’s vehicle.
Hochman condemned the misuse of law enforcement tools available to officers.
“These databases and tracking devices are important tools for law enforcement to conduct lawful investigations,” Hochman continued. “When an officer forsakes his duty to serve the public and instead illicitly accesses these databases and places GPS tracking devices on cars to serve his own private interests, as has been alleged against Officer Ixcoy, he is looking at spending time in a cell for such misguided actions.”
The tracker was discovered before sustained harm occurred.
The device was later found, according to prosecutors. If convicted as charged, Ixcoy faces up to three years and six months in the L.A. County Jail.
Bell Gardens authorities opened the investigation into Ixcoy after receiving information about his conduct.
Following the department’s investigation, the case was submitted to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for review. After the DA’s office reviewed the case, charges against Ixcoy were filed on Thursday.
In the viral moment that sparked fresh attention to police stalking nationwide, multiple officers across the country have faced arrest for exploiting law enforcement databases and surveillance tools to track romantic partners without legal justification. Flock Safety license plate reader stalking cases now number at least 50 nationwide, with officers exploiting the 120,000-camera network to track ex-partners and women without a warrant, case number, or active investigation, according to a Washington Post analysis of police and court records. Former Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy Alexander Vanny used Flock as part of a months-long campaign of stalking and harassment against his former fiancée — a campaign that also involved installing a hidden camera in her roommate’s bathroom. In Georgia, a police chief allegedly used a network of license-plate-reading cameras to keep tabs on his ex-girlfriend for months, searching for her car’s tag roughly 600 times.
The Bell Police Department declined to provide comment to media outlets covering the case.
Ixcoy was arrested, cited and released Monday and is due back in court for arraignment on Oct. 2, according to jail records and the D.A.’s Office.