A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced an ex-San Diego State University police sergeant to nearly four years in federal prison for possessing child sexual abuse material while he was still a campus law enforcement officer, according to federal prosecutors in Los Angeles.
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Paul Aurelio McClain, 47, pleaded guilty in March to a single federal charge, admitting in his plea agreement that he possessed more than 600 photos and videos depicting child pornography, according to court documents. He also admitted in his plea that he knowingly possessed images showing victims who were under 12 years old.
McClain, who lived in the Riverside County city of Menifee, was prosecuted in the Central District of California and sentenced by Los Angeles-area U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett to three years and 10 months in prison. She also ordered McClain to be placed on 20 years of supervised release upon finishing his federal prison sentence.
The judge also ordered McClain to pay more than $22,000 in what are essentially fines, including $17,000 to a fund that assists victims who appeared in child sexual abuse material, prosecutors said in a statement.
Prosecutors wrote in sentencing documents that McClain’s actions were abhorrent and indefensible on their own, but even more “disturbing and unacceptable” given his job.
“Defendant’s conduct is especially egregious given the types of child pornography that he possessed,” prosecutors wrote. “Defendant possessed images involving prepubescent children and children with an intellectual disability.”
In defense sentencing documents, McClain’s court-appointed attorney argued there was no evidence that one of the victims was intellectually disabled, apart from the title of one video and the “subjective observation” of a probation officer.
The defense attorney, who did not respond to a message seeking comment, also argued in sentencing documents that McClain’s crime should not negate that for much of his 47 years, including 24 years as a police officer, “he has lived a life of purpose and of service.”
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According to court documents, an agent with Homeland Security Investigations was conducting an undercover operation on an online peer-to-peer sharing service when the agent was able to download child sexual abuse material from a host computer that investigators later determined was McClain’s.
In March 2025, federal agents served a search warrant at McClain’s home in Menifee, where they seized an external hard drive containing hundreds of images of child sexual abuse material, according to his plea agreement.
McClain was working as a sergeant with the San Diego State University Police Department at the time. Court records, including a letter to the court from his mother and documents filed by his attorney, indicate that McClain had previously worked as a police officer on at least one other university campus, including Cal State Fullerton.
McClain is married and has three children, according to defense sentencing documents. His parents, a niece and a retired Cal State University system employee wrote letters to the judge supporting him.
Prosecutors acknowledged that the strong support of his family was a mitigating factor in sentencing, but argued that the child sexual abuse material was not the only troubling file they discovered on his electronic devices.
“Law enforcement also recovered a video recording from a hidden camera inside a bathroom in defendant’s residence that depicts an adult female showering and then exiting the shower fully nude,” prosecutors wrote.
The prosecutors argued that not only did McClain’s actions harm the victims shown in the images he possessed, but that his conduct undermined the public’s trust in law enforcement.
