Optometrist messaging teen for sex act was talking to vigilantes, CA officials say
An optometrist is facing charges after a civilian vigilante group targeted him in an undercover sting, California officials say.
Brandon Thomas Zoeckler was charged with attempted lewd act upon a child aged 14 or 15 and meeting a minor for lewd purposes on July 1, according to a criminal complaint from the California Department of Justice.
Zoeckler has been a licensed optometrist in the state of California since 2012, California State Board of Optometry records show. He has practiced in Temecula and Beaumont.
“California has some of the highest professional licensing standards in the nation and it is unacceptable for licensed individuals to violate their responsibility of professional conduct,” Ken Garcia, deputy chief of the Department of Consumer Affairs Division of Investigation, said in a July 15 news release from the California Department of Justice.
Zoeckler began speaking with someone he thought to be a 14-year-old boy online starting in August 2021, court records show.
However, Zoeckler was not communicating with a teenage boy but was instead speaking with someone from People vs. Predators, the complaint shows. The group is known for targeting child predators in undercover stings.
While speaking with the “teenager,” Zoeckler sent explicit images of himself and requested the boy do the same, the complaint shows.
Zoeckler also “described, in detail, sexual acts he wanted to perform with the minor,” the complaint shows.
“... but remember this is highly illegal lol,” Zoeckler wrote in a message to the “teenager,” court records show.
Then, in July 2022, Zoeckler drove from Riverside County to a San Diego County grocery store to meet with the “boy” for sex acts, the complaint shows.
When Zoeckler arrived to meet the “boy,” a member of the vigilante group recorded him, court records show.
Zoeckler realized “he was texting with an adult and fled,” state officials said.
The vigilante member filed a complaint against Zoeckler with the California State Board of Optometry in 2022, launching an investigation into his alleged actions, the complaint shows.
Zoeckler was arrested following the investigation, officials said.
“Let me be absolutely clear: Using the internet to target children for sex is a reprehensible and despicable crime,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in the release.
This story was originally published July 16, 2024 at 1:50 PM with the headline "Optometrist messaging teen for sex act was talking to vigilantes, CA officials say."
