U.S. Navy commander once stationed at Mayport indicted on child sex abuse video charges
A former executive officer of a U.S. Navy littoral combat ship now based at Naval Station Mayport has been indicted after videos and images of sexual abuse of children were uncovered, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Cmdr. Gregory Edward McLean, 38, of Jacksonville was officially indicted Tuesday with two counts of distributing videos depicting the sexual assault of children and one of possessing files depicting the sexual abuse of young children, the indictment reads.
If convicted, McLean faces five to 20 years in prison on each count, prosecutors said. Two cellphones, a hard drive and a USB drive are evidence that prosecutors claim were used in the offenses. McLean will remain detained pending trial, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
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According to a brief biography posted by the Navy League of Minnesota, McLean was born in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and is a Florida State University graduate. He served on Navy destroyers in Norfolk, Va., and Jacksonville from 2006 to 2014 before being assigned to Mayport's littoral command center in 2015. His service biography, provided by Littoral Combat Ship Squadron 2's public affairs office at Mayport, also lists multiple commendations and medals.
Making commander on Sept. 1, 2021, he served as the executive officer of the USS Minneapolis-St. Paul from its pre-commissioning until relieved of his duties on Nov. 15, 2021, according to LCSRON-2. That was before the ship arrived at its homeport at Mayport on July 11, the Navy said. McLean remains an active duty member of the Navy.
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The six-page indictment reveals little about what led to McLean's arrest, other than each charge states that visual depictions of a "minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct" were found in computer files and were knowingly distributed. The indictment also said he operated under the aliases “twisteddesire3210” and “twisteddesire3213” as videos were distributed online from November 2020 to November 2021.
The Navy had no comment on the arrest other than to provide McLean's background information.
The case was investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the Rhode Island State Police, as well as the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, prosecutors said.
dscanlan@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4549
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Navy commander Gregory McLean arrested in child sex videos case
