Ex-California Cop Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charge in Missouri

A former California police officer who moved to the Philippines after serving time for a child sex crime has pleaded guilty in St. Louis to producing child pornography while overseas.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 79-year-old Michael Bruce McDonald pleaded guilty Thursday in St. Louis’ federal court to a charge of engaging in illicit sexual conduct overseas under a law that targets sex tourism and sexual misconduct abroad. Prosecutors are seeking a nearly 15-year prison sentence when McDonald is sentenced at a later date. As part of his plea, McDonald acknowledged taking nude photos of girls younger than 14 and sharing them online.

McDonald was indicted in 2016 after an undercover St. Louis police sergeant who had been tipped off to McDonald’s actions began corresponding with him.

Authorities say a California jury convicted McDonald in 2001 of multiple child sex-related crimes, for which he served prison time and was registered as a sex offender.