A Riverside County optometrist was arrested and charged earlier this month after he was allegedly caught on video by an online vigilante group three years ago attempting to meet a 14-year-old boy in San Diego County for sex, the California Department of Justice said Monday.
The investigation began after the California Board of Optometry received a complaint against the optometrist in July 2022 from Cody Mattingly of People vs. Predators, an online vigilante group targeting child predators. Members of the group often expose adults who are attempting to meet minors for sex. In the complaint, Mattingly alleged the 42-year-old practitioner Brandon Zoeckler had driven to San Diego County to meet a minor for sex, court records show.
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Investigators from the California Department of Consumer Affairs found that on or about Aug. 21, 2021, Zoeckler had sent sexually explicit text messages and photos to Mattingly, who had posed as a 14-year-old boy online. Before allegedly driving to a Food 4 Less in San Diego County to meet the boy for sex, the 42-year-old acknowledged that his actions were against the law, stating in a message, “…but remember this is highly illegal lol,” according to a felony complaint.
Upon arriving, Mattingly filmed the encounter and Zoeckler fled the scene, the Department of Justice said.
On July 1, Zoeckler was charged with an attempted lewd act upon a child aged 14 or 15 and meeting a minor for lewd purposes. The California Department of Justice’s Cybercrime Section will prosecute the case, officials said in a news release.
It was unclear if the California Board of Optometry had taken any disciplinary action against Zoeckler, who is currently licensed in Beaumont and was previously licensed in Temecula, according to the Department of Consumer Affairs. Zoeckler could not immediately be located for comment.