TESTS, from page 1 Former cop pleads guilty
By Daily Press staff
An ex-Santa Monica police officer who allegedly had an ongoing sexual relationship with a minor will undergo a series of psychological and physical tests over the next three months.
Gregory McElveen, 55, will return to court Sept. 30 to be sentenced for one count of performing a lewd act upon a child, court officials said.
In the meantime, he will remain in custody at county jail and most likely avoid going to state prison, where his lawyer feared he would be in danger because of his status as a registerable sex offender and a former police officer.
If sent to state prison, McElveen would be kept in the facility’s general population area for the 30-to-90-day intake period, said Andrew Stein, his attorney, who added that he could then be held in protective custody.
McElveen is currently being detained at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los After being arrested by LA County sheriff’s deputies Feb. 26, McElveen was charged with performing a lewd act upon a child, two counts of penetration with a foreign object and two counts of oral copulation.
Angeles with bail set at $215,000. Stein said he hopes McElveen will serve out his sentence there.
After taking the case over from a public defender at McElveen’s April 28 sentencing hearing, Stein continued the case three times. He scrapped plans last week to withdraw McElveen’s guilty plea and instead accepted the 90-day diagnostic study.
In the meantime, McElveen is earning time credits to use against whatever sentence he will ultimately face.
McElveen, who retired from the SMPD in May of 1999, served with the department for 19 years. He allegedly began a 10-month sexual relationship with the 15-year-old daughter of another SMPD officer in August 2000.
After being arrested by LA County sheriff’s deputies Feb. 26, McElveen was charged with performing a lewd act upon a child, two counts of penetration with a foreign object and two counts of oral copulation.
He pleaded guilty to performing a lewd act upon a child April 14 and agreed to spend one year in state prison as part of the plea, which dismissed the four other counts against him.
With good behavior, which can cut a state prison sentence in half, McElveen would have been eligible for parole in six months.
When the diagnostic study is complete and he goes in front of the judge for sentencing, he will have been in custody for more than seven months.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 4, 2003. Read the original PDF.