A former San Francisco police officer has been sentenced to one year of probation and credit for time served after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor child pornography possession count, closing a case that began in 2022 when his then-fiancée called police on him. Westley Paetow must also register as a sex offender for 10 years under the terms of a plea deal reached in late August.
The case started after Paetow's then-fiancée called Albany police and reported finding images on his laptop of children being sexually abused, according to The East Bay Times. When investigators searched his Albany home, they didn't find any such images on his laptop, but they did find hundreds on an iPad in his closet, per court records cited by the outlet. Prosecutors originally charged Paetow with two felonies in 2022, but both counts were dismissed as part of the plea deal, according to the same report. The seed story was first reported by The Mercury News.
Fiancée Described Years of On-and-Off Viewing
Paetow's fiancée told police he admitted to viewing child sexual abuse material for a few years, “on and off,” the outlet reported. A doctor who examined the images determined the children depicted in them were aged 10 to 12, according to the same account. Paetow himself denied all allegations and was adamant that he did not own or previously own any child pornography, the report states.
An investigator testified that Paetow told police he had recently swapped out his computer hard drive, claiming that was something he did routinely. That detail emerged during the case's court proceedings, as described in the same report.
Certification Surrendered Weeks Before Sentencing
On Sept. 26, Paetow voluntarily surrendered his peace officer certification, the outlet reported, a move that came roughly a month after he was sentenced through the plea deal in late August. He is identified in court records and in reporting as a former San Francisco police officer.
Under the plea agreement, Paetow's sentence of one year of probation and credit for time served in jail closes out the felony charges that had been pending since 2022. He must register as a sex offender for the next decade, a condition tied to his no-contest plea on the misdemeanor possession count.
