LAPD’s Photo Chief Arrested

The chief photographer for the Los Angeles Police Department has been charged with secretly videotaping a 13-year-old girl as she undressed for a modeling shoot, officials said Friday.

David Adkins, 56, was relieved from his position as supervisor of the department’s photographic operations, Police Lt. Art Miller said Friday.

Adkins testified at the O.J. Simpson murder trial in 1995.

He allegedly shot the surreptitious videotape on March 22, 2003, at his San Fernando Valley home as the girl changed clothes in a bedroom, said Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. The girl expected to be photographed in conjunction with Adkins’ Internet modeling business, Gibbons said.

A relative of the girl who accompanied her noticed the camera, grabbed the tape and turned it over to the LAPD. Prosecutors and police appealed for anyone else who may have had contact with Adkins’ modeling business to contact authorities.

Adkins was arrested Wednesday and charged with one misdemeanor count of secretly videotaping the girl “through her clothing for purposes of viewing her body or undergarments without her consent or knowledge with intent to arouse, appeal to, or gratify his lust, passions or sexual desires.”

Adkins was released on bond the same day.

A former commercial photo studio owner, Adkins took charge of the LAPD photographic operation 15 years ago. Adkins, an Oklahoma native, specialized in underwater photography for the department, shooting bodies in places such as the Los Angeles River or Castaic Lake.

Police seized photographs and videotapes from his Van Nuys home as part of their investigation.

Adkins could not be reached for comment.