A former San Jose police officer was sentenced to five years in federal prison for possession of child pornography, prosecutors said Friday.
Denis Shevchenko, 45, of Gilroy, was a community service officer for the San Jose Police Department after previously working as a police officer there and at the Pinole Police Department, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Northern California.
Shevchenko was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 30, 2022, and charged in a superseding indictment on May 30, 2024. He was found guilty in a bench trial on Oct 17, 2025, prosecutors said.
An investigation into Shevchenko began when law enforcement discovered he had posted violent messages on the internet advocating for “shooting” police officers and “culling” people who did not share his beliefs, according to court documents cited by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
San Jose police executed a search warrant on Shevchenko’s residence on Oct. 14, 2021, and seized electronic devices that were found to contain numerous videos and thousands of images depicting minors, including babies and toddlers, engaged in sexual conduct with adults, prosecutors said.