Pearsall arrived in court wearing a white button-up shirt and red tie, but his arraignment did not move forward.
His defense attorney requested a delay, which the judge granted. Pearsall is expected back in court on Sept. 21.
At least nine alleged victims were present for Thursday’s proceeding.
For some of the lifeguards who once worked under Pearsall, simply seeing their former supervisor again was enough to bring the alleged betrayal rushing back.
“I saw Kevin today in the hallway,” lifeguard Matthew Dawson told reporters. “When he walked past me my stomach dropped. … I saw him smiling.”
Dawson was disturbed by what he saw.
“This is not a joke. … To me, it’s obviously another game for him.”
Fellow lifeguard and park aide Richard Corey also said he noticed Pearsall smiling.
“It’s already a betrayal, it already hurts, but who does that?” Corey said. “The whole thing is messed up and hurts.”
The allegations center on an employee locker room used by lifeguards.
According to prosecutors, Pearsall secretly captured audio and video there over an approximately 11-month period beginning in August 2024.
That location was especially sensitive because employees had reportedly been encouraged to come to work in ordinary clothes before changing into their uniforms inside.
Dawson and Corey said workers followed that practice because wearing their uniforms outside the workplace could cause them to be mistaken for law enforcement officers.
Now, prosecutors allege, that everyday routine provided an opportunity for covert recording.
Corey recalled the emotional reaction among workers when state officials informed them that an investigation was underway.
“It was anger, sadness, betrayal,” Corey said. “It was a wild day.”
The allegations were even more disturbing to him because Pearsall wasn’t simply another employee. He occupied a powerful position and held sworn law-enforcement status.
Corey described it as “the highest level of betrayal.”
But the case doesn’t end with allegations of secret recording.
Prosecutors say Pearsall also sent some of the material to two other men, creating fears among alleged victims that the recordings may have traveled much farther.
“That give you a lot of anxiety,” Corey said. “We don’t know how many people he’s disseminated (the videos) to.”
Attorney Mark Peacock, who represents several alleged victims, said four of his clients were minors at the time they were allegedly recorded.
Some of Peacock’s clients appeared in court Thursday wearing red ties in solidarity.
For the alleged victims and their families, one question now hangs over the case: Where did the recordings go?
“Where are all the photos and videos?” Peacock asked reporters. “Did they make their way to the dark web?”
“You can fill in the blank how horrific that is.”
Peacock described terrified parents struggling with the implications.
“I’ve talked to the clients’ parents and I have emotional people on hand and they’re terrified,” Peacock told City News Service Wednesday. “A couple of them have said to me that they’ve tried to do everything right and this happens.”
Prominent attorney Gloria Allred said Thursday that she represents nine alleged victims, including Dawson and Corey, and plans to pursue another lawsuit connected to the case.
The criminal investigation reportedly began with a discovery inside the men’s employee locker room at lifeguard headquarters in July 2025.
A USB memory stick containing a hidden camera was found, according to prosecutors.
California State Parks personnel examined the device before contacting the California Highway Patrol.
Investigators eventually concluded that Pearsall allegedly “was responsible for placing hidden cameras in the locker room, which recorded both audio and video, and using the hidden cameras to record numerous videos over an 11-month period beginning in August 2024,” according to prosecutors.
Pearsall wasn’t a low-level bureaucrat during the alleged conduct.
He had considerable authority over California’s state park operations in the region.
“From 2023 through July of 2025, Pearsall served as a California State Parks superintendent, a sworn law enforcement position overseeing the management and operations of state parks in the Orange Coast District, including Orange County,” according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors further allege that Pearsall sent images depicting nude or partially nude men to two other men while making sexually charged remarks about the alleged victims’ bodies.
The accusations have also triggered civil litigation.
One alleged victim filed suit in Orange County Superior Court in June, accusing state officials of sexual harassment, hostile work environment harassment and failing to prevent or adequately address the alleged misconduct.
Attorney Ron Zambrano said his client had trusted Pearsall.
“My client is shocked, devastated — wrapped up in betrayal,” Zambrano said. “He looked up to Pearsall as a mentor.”
According to Zambrano, his client started as a seasonal lifeguard in 2018 and became a full-time employee in April 2022.
The attorney also pointed to a disturbing detail involving his client’s locker assignment.
“But it also happened to be a better angle for the camera,” the attorney alleged.
The full scope of the case may still not be known.
Questions remain over whether junior lifeguards were captured by the alleged surveillance. Underage employees reportedly used the locker room, although authorities have not publicly confirmed that they appeared in the recordings.
Zambrano has also suggested the alleged activity could stretch back considerably further than the period currently described in the criminal charges.
“I learned directly from one of the investigators this could have been happening as early as 2019,” Zambrano said.
Pearsall reportedly retired in July 2025, around the same period investigators executed an initial search warrant.
If he is convicted on every count currently filed against him, prosecutors say Pearsall could face a maximum prison sentence of 18 years and eight months.
The case now raises serious questions for California State Parks beyond Pearsall’s individual criminal exposure.
A sworn law-enforcement supervisor was entrusted with authority over employees and state facilities. Prosecutors now accuse that same official of exploiting a private workplace where lifeguards reasonably expected they could change clothes without being watched.
And with alleged victims still wondering where the recordings went — and attorneys preparing additional civil litigation — the fallout for California’s state parks bureaucracy may be far from over.
