Apr. 8-A former part-time Nesquehoning police officer faces charges after police say he went through a woman's smartphone on Sept. 5 without permission.
The woman's photos and videos were accessed, along with her Snapchat social media account and emails, according to arrest papers.
Victor A. Alpizar, 30, Bethlehem, was charged with unlawful use of a computer and computer theft by Nesquehoning police, who filed the case against him March 24. He was released on $2,000 unsecured bail March 31 by Magisterial District Judge Casimir Kosciolek, Lansford.
According to arrest papers:
Alpizar took a woman into custody at 6:10 p.m. on a mental health warrant and brought her to St. Luke's Hospital in Lehighton for evaluation, seizing her Apple iPhone SX and taking it back to the Nesquehoning police station. Then he returned the phone to the woman at the hospital around at 8:20 p.m. and brought her home when she was released.
However, police learned he called the woman's girlfriend for the passcode at 7:30 p.m., claiming a nurse asked him for it after the patient couldn't remember the passcode. The girlfriend offered that number to police.
When questioned about the allegation, Alpizar said he forgot to return the phone and brought it to the station, calling the girlfriend to obtain the passcode in case they needed it for a search warrant. He also said a crisis worker needed the passcode and the woman didn't remember it. At first he denied entering the passcode into the phone but then claimed to have opened it in an attempt to shut the phone off.
Pennsylvania State Police conducted a forensic analysis of the phone, finding it was unlocked it at 7:28 p.m. and it remained so for 18 minutes. It was unlocked a second time at 7:50 p.m. for four minutes.
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