Cop Guilty of Serial Flashing Women and Children in Wetlands

By PAUL ANDERSON

A Los Angeles police officer was convicted today of repeatedly flashing residents near the Huntington Beach wetlands, including a 12-year-old girl who saw him three times.

Jurors deliberated for about 3 1/2 hours before convicting Ryan Eric Galliher on one count each of attempted lewd conduct and contacting a minor to commit a lewd act, both felonies. He was also convicted of six counts of indecent exposure and a count of lewd conduct in public, all misdemeanors.

Galliher, who is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 18, faces up to eight years behind bars and having to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Jess Rodriguez. The defendant, who had been free on $100,000 bail, was immediately taken into custody.

“Ryan (Eric) Galliher likes exposing himself in public, in broad daylight to strangers,” Rodriguez said in his opening statement of the trial. “He acted out on this desire over and over and over again until he was finally caught by the Huntington Beach Police Department in the act.”

The 12-year-old girl, who liked taking a shortcut home through the wetlands, first saw the suspect in February of last year, Rodriguez said. She was frolicking with friends on a rope swing in the wetlands when “she sees the defendant look at her and her friends with one hand rubbing his crotch,” the prosecutor said.

Several days later, on Feb. 27 of last year, she was walking home from school by herself when she saw the suspect again, Rodriguez said.

“This time his penis is actually exposed, sticking out of his shorts,” the prosecutor said.

The flasher, who was a few feet away, asked the girl, “Is this big enough?” Rodriguez said. “Then he tells her, ‘You can touch it if you want to.’ “

The girl was taking the long way home to avoid the suspect on March 10 of last year when she encountered him again, Rodriguez said. She heard the man’s voice behind her and turned around to see him exposing himself, the prosecutor said.

The girl walked into an apartment complex and a woman there helped her contact police, Rodriguez said.

On April 18 of last year, an 82-year-old woman saw the flasher touching himself on Bolsa Chica Street, Rodriguez said.

Police received their “first big break” in the investigation of the “serial flasher” on June 17, 2014, Rodriguez said. Responding to a report of a nude man exposing himself, police stopped Galliher, who was running in the area, the prosecutor said.

“They stopped the defendant and he immediately tells them he’s an off- duty police officer,” Rodriguez said. “So the officer who talks to him lets him go.”

Six days later, police received another call, but they couldn’t locate the victim, Rodriguez said.

Investigators started focusing on Galliher as a suspect, but when they showed a 4-year-old photo of him to victims, they could not identify him as the suspect, Rodriguez said.

The reports of flashing ceased until Oct. 20 of last year, when athletes from Cal State Long Beach training in the wetlands saw a man exposing himself to them, Rodriguez said.

Police doing surveillance in the area where there were multiple reports of the flasher arrested Galliher on Oct. 23, 2014, Rodriguez said. Officers “watch as he takes off his shirt and shorts and starts masturbating,” Rodriguez said.

When police showed victims a more recent photo of the suspect, some identified him as the culprit, Rodriguez said.

On the dates of the reports of flashing, Galliher had a day off from his job as an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, Rodriguez said.

The defendant’s attorney, Bill Seki, said his client had alibis for some of the dates in question.

“This is a case of faulty ID and a faulty investigation,” Seki said.

The attorney said Galliher joined the LAPD after a stint in the Marines.

There were actually 10 flashing reports in the wetlands area, but Galliher was only charged with six incidents because in the other instances, the victims “were so sure that’s not him,” Seki said.

Speaking of his client, Seki said, “This is a person of great character. He’s trustworthy. He’s reliable. He’s not a deviant.”

City News Service; Photo: www.flickr.com