Trial Begins for Cop Accused of Serial Flashing in Bolsa Wetlands

A Los Angeles policeman repeatedly “flashed” residents near the Bolsa Chica wetlands, including a 12-year-old girl who saw him three times, a prosecutor said today, but the officer’s attorney said investigators arrested the wrong man.

“Ryan (Eric) Galliher likes exposing himself in public, in broad daylight to strangers,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Jess Rodriguez said in his opening statement. “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, 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 alleged.

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 alleged.

The flasher, who was a few feet away, asked the girl, “Is this big enough?” Rodriguez alleged. “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 alleged.

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, 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 receive 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 did 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 of last year, Rodriguez said. Officers “watch as he takes off his shirt and shorts and starts masturbating,” Rodriguez alleged.

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 has 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 military in a unit charged with “protecting the president.”

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

“After listening to all of the evidence in this case, you’re going to hear identification in this case is not trustworthy,” Seki said.

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

Galliher is charged with one felony count each of attempted lewd act on a child younger than 14 and contacting a minor with the intent to commit a lewd act, and six counts of indecent exposure and one count of engaging in lewd conduct -- all misdemeanors.

The defendant could face up to four years in prison and be ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life if convicted.

City News Service