A former San Jose Police Department employee has been sentenced to five years in federal prison after being convicted of possessing child pornography, closing out a case that began more than four years ago with violent online threats rather than any initial report of child exploitation. U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila sentenced 45-year-old Denis Shevchenko, of Gilroy, to 60 months behind bars, along with five years of supervised release and $47,000 in restitution to victims.
The sentencing caps a prosecution that moved through multiple stages in federal court. Shevchenko was initially indicted by a federal grand jury in June 2022, faced a superseding indictment in May 2024, and was ultimately found guilty of child pornography possession following a bench trial before Judge Davila in October 2025, according to the office's announcement. As KRON4 reports, Shevchenko is scheduled to report to prison on October 29.
A Threats Investigation That Turned Into Something Else
The case did not start as a child exploitation investigation at all. Federal investigators first took interest in Shevchenko in October 2021 after the FBI San Francisco Bay Area Joint Terrorism Task Force flagged online posts he allegedly made on the platform Gab advocating for shooting police officers and “culling” political opponents, per reporting from San Jose Spotlight. KRON4 reports that Shevchenko posted messages encouraging violence against people who disagreed with his beliefs.
When San Jose Police Department officers arrested Shevchenko while he was on duty that October, detectives seized his electronic devices. The forensic review of those devices is what changed the trajectory of the case entirely.
Forensic Review Uncovered Child Abuse Material
According to a statement from the San Jose Police Department, examination of the seized devices revealed child sexual abuse material, leading detectives to re-arrest Shevchenko in early November 2021 and book him into Santa Clara County Main Jail. KRON4 reports the devices contained numerous videos and thousands of images of child pornography, with the material depicting minors including babies and toddlers engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Shevchenko's history with local law enforcement adds another layer to the case. KRON4 reports that he had previously worked as an SJPD police officer and was a civilian Community Service Officer at the time of his arrest. KRON4 also reports that he had previously worked as a police officer for the Pinole Police Department.
Statutory Penalties and a Department's Broader Mandate
Under federal statute 18 U.S.C. § 2252A, possessing child sexual abuse material carries a statutory maximum of up to 20 years in federal prison, along with mandatory supervised release and victim restitution orders, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Shevchenko's 60-month sentence falls well under that ceiling, though it still comes with the full package of supervised release and restitution the statute allows.
The case also lands with particular weight given the San Jose Police Department's role as the lead agency for the Silicon Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a regional coalition covering Bay Area jurisdictions from Monterey to Napa County. In 2024 alone, that task force received 13,451 CyberTips and conducted more than 416 proactive investigations across Northern California, per the department's own figures — underscoring the scale of digital child exploitation cases moving through the same regional pipeline that ultimately helped unravel one of its own former employees.
Hoodline has previously covered a case involving San Jose police personnel, including an officer charged over youth program minors.
