A Menasha police officer was charged with misconduct in public officer after prosecutors allege he used Flock, a license plate tracking technology, off duty to locate a woman’s car while off-duty.
Here’s what to know about the case.
Who is charged?
Cristian Morales, 31, of Appleton.
The Menasha Police Department said in a Jan. 7 news release Morales was placed on administrative leave following his arrest.
What are the charges?
Morales is charged in Outagamie County with misconduct in public office by acting in excess of authority.
What happened?
According to a criminal complaint:
- The victim told Appleton police she was concerned that Morales had inappropriately used the Flock System, a technology used in part to track license plates, in October to determine if her vehicle was where she told Morales it would be.
- A search warrant executed on Flock Safety returned information on the registration of the victim’s two vehicles, search inquiries made by Morales, a log from the Menasha Police Department regarding a search inquiry for the victim’s vehicle and general data from Morales’ Flock account.
- On Oct. 9, Morales made five Flock searches for the victim’s cars. Two of the searches were done at 9:13 a.m. and 9:17 a.m.; the other three were made between 9:52 and 9:54 a.m.. The search type was listed as “lookup” and the reason was listed as “welfare” for all searches. No case number was entered for any of them.
- The data showed several Flock networks were searched, with a camera count ranging from 15,234 cameras to 92,702 cameras checked. An investigator said the wide scope indicated state or nationwide cameras were searched.
- Morales told an investigator he was not on duty when he searched for the victim’s car on Flock. Morales nodded, indicating yes, when asked if he made the Flock searches on his personal phone at his home.
- Morales indicated “desperation, and bad judgement, combined with a lack of sleep” contributed to his decision to use Flock. He indicated he knew his actions were wrong, “but it was out of a pure moment of desperation and lack of judgement.”
What’s next?
Morales was arrested Jan. 7 by Appleton police and booked into the Outagamie County Jail, according to an Appleton Police Department news release. He has since bailed out of custody, according to online records…