62-year-old man charged with transmitting photos of minor on Galveston Beach, police say

GALVESTON, Texas (KTRK) -- From a fun day at the beach to a frightening one.

"Honestly makes you feel embarrassed, disgusted," victim Kamille Clay said.

Kamille Clay says this weekend in Galveston, while celebrating her brothers win for prom king with her family, she learned someone was taking photos of girls and women across the beach.

Galveston Police confirming the arrest of 62-year-old David Rocha.

"Nowadays with social media and smartphones and things like that, you can be in the back of anyone's picture, but being the subject of lewd photography for somebody who's doing something like that it's just kind of gross," Clay said.

Charging documents reveal Rocha is also a registered sex offender and investigators say they found photos on his phone zoomed into the buttocks of a 15-year-old girl that was exposed at the time.

Documents also show he sent the photos electronically without the consent of the individuals.

Rocha now charged with three counts of "unlawful electronic transmission of sexually explicit material."

Law experts say this is only a class C misdemeanor - equivalent to a parking ticket.

"If the buttocks is exposed, I do believe that would fall under the category of something that would be a criminal offense, albeit a pretty low level one," Murray Newman, a criminal defense attorney, said.

This comes just a week after 31-year-old Taylor Roy made his first court appearance in Galveston, law enforcement says he's charged with invasive visual recording after also taking photos of a child on the beach last month.

Neman adding in this case - despite the public setting - the problem arises because investigators say Rocha sent the photos to a friend.

"It's the combo of just showing the unclothed intimate part, plus the transmission, that is making it a crime," Newman said.

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