Local Reporter Helps Uncover Cop Behind Bathroom Hidden Cam. Cop Admits Guilt, Gets Fired

CPD

A cop in Chesterfield, Missouri, has been arrested and fired on charges of invasion of privacy filed in two counties. He allegedly operated a hidden camera in a men's bathroom at a local gas station in one county, and a hidden camera at a glory hole in his home in another county. The cop, David Cerna, is accused of posing as a woman in Craigslist ads, inviting men to come to his home for anonymous sex, and then surreptitiously recording the encounters.

Cerna was apparently hosting the material on his own website, and Chris Hayes, a reporter with Fox 2 in St. Louis, was able to connect the dots. You can read his account—which is at times difficult to follow—here. Hayes says he was able to match the bathroom found in a video posted online to a specific gas station bathroom in Chesterfield with the help of one of the men caught on tape. The camera wasn't there when Hayes arrived, however, so he took his research to the Chesterfield Police Department.

The website that hosted the material was shut down shortly after that, but not before the information Hayes had gathered could be used to trace the website to a home, Cerna's, which police raided. Hayes reports Cerna was arrested less than a week after he went to police with his investigation.

Police say there were no warning signs that could have clued them in to Cerna's behavior, but that "once we learned of his involvement, we acted swiftly to minimize the possibility of any additional victims; and to hold Officer Cerna accountable for his actions."

Fox 2 only reported that David Cerna was "no longer" a Chesterfield cop, but a phone call to the police chief's office confirmed that he was terminated. The police chief's assistant said she doubted Cerna could appeal the decision, since he had admitted guilt and agreed to the termination.

h/t SugarFree

#PoliceAbuse #Missouri