California arrests self-ID’d pedophile

LOS ANGELES – A self-proclaimed pedophile who posted pictures of young girls on a now-defunct Web site was charged Tuesday with violating an order to stay away from children after he was arrested twice in a day at a university.

Jack McClellan, 45, formerly of Arlington, pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor count. He was being held on $150,000 bail, with a pretrial hearing set for Aug. 28.

McClellan was arrested Monday after he allegedly was spotted with a camera near the University of California, Los Angeles, child development building. He was arrested and booked on suspicion of violating a statewide restraining order issued earlier this month prohibiting him from coming within 30 feet of any child in California.

He was released six hours later and warned not to return to UCLA, but he was arrested a second time that night after someone spotted him giving a television interview in a campus parking lot, authorities said.

McClellan said he did not touch youngsters, and he has never been arrested for any sex crimes.

“I get kind of a high being around children, especially female children, of course, and that satisfies me,” McClellan told the Bellingham Herald in May.

McClellan, who is unemployed and lives out of his car, arrived in Southern California this summer from Washington state.

For years, he maintained a Web site called Seattle-Tacoma-Everett Girl Love on which he posted photos of children he had taken in public places. He also discussed how he liked to stake out parks, public libraries, fast-food restaurants and other areas where little girls, or “LGs,” congregate.

In May, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Rebecca Hover told the Bellingham Herald that the department didn’t have an active investigation of McClellan but was monitoring the situation.