Self-described pedophile Jack McClellan remains in jail on $150,000 bail after being arrested on campus last week for allegedly violating a restraining order preventing him from being within 10 yards from any California minor.
He was then arrested again for violating an order from university police to stay off campus.
McClellan made headlines nationwide as a blogger on his former Web site, on which he discussed his attraction to little girls ““ which he refers to as “LGs” ““ and posted pictures he took of children in public places.
Before these arrests, he had no previous criminal record and has previously claimed that he has not done anything illegal, but the restraining order was issued earlier in June.
McClellan was spotted at Franz Hall near the Infant Development Program, a university day care center, on Aug. 13 in the afternoon.
A program employee spotted him holding a camera and notified the police, said Nancy Greenstein, director of police community services for university police.
Officials from the Infant Development Program and the university declined to comment.
Police cited him and issued a stay-away order, which forbids him from being anywhere on campus for seven days. A few hours later, he was seen giving an interview to television station KTLA in a campus parking lot and police arrested him for suspected trespassing.
“He was told … he couldn’t come back and he violated (the order),” Greenstein said.
He was booked at the West Hollywood station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and he later pleaded not guilty to violating his restraining order during his arraignment Tuesday.
McClellan is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 24 to go over his restraining order.
But some legal experts, such as Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and a Loyola Law School professor, said though McClellan’s behaviors may cause discomfort to the public, he may not have directly violated any laws.
“There’s a line to cross and I don’t think he has yet. He’s tiptoeing around the law,” she said to the Associated Press.
McClellan said he spent a couple hours at UCLA before his first arrest and that the camera he was carrying had no batteries. He told the AP in an interview earlier this month that running the site, where he also discussed how he likes to stake out parks, public libraries and other areas where little girls congregate, was therapeutic because it allowed him to share his thoughts.
“I thought it was the best therapeutic thing for my own head to kind of put this out there, what I’m thinking,” he told the AP before his arrest. “I’m determined not to do anything illegal. I haven’t done anything illegal.”
With reports from Bruin wire services.