Former Rochester police officer pleads guilty to child sex abuse and will serve six months in prison

ROCHESTER, NY – Former Rochester police officer Shawn Jordan, a convicted child molester, pleaded guilty in court Thursday to a misdemeanor count of disseminating indecent material to a minor and a misdemeanor count of endangering a minor. He will serve six months in the Monroe County Jail.

On the night of March 16, Jordan exposed himself to a 16-year-old girl via video chat. Assistant District Attorney Sara Van Strydonck says Jordan also asked the girl to send him something sexual. He was still working for the Rochester Police Department at the time.

In court, Jordan admitted what he had done and knew the damage it could cause. According to Van Strydonck, this is the best outcome without the victim suffering further damage.

“During my meeting with the family, I was convinced that this was an institution they supported,” Van Strydonck said. “People don’t realize that children have to take the witness stand in these cases. It’s hard to do, and we ask them to do it all the time, and overwhelmingly they do. But if we can get an attitude that is positive in a case where a child never has to take the hand of the witness, even in the Grand Jury, why wouldn’t we do that?”

When Jordan is released in six months, he will be on probation for five years and must stay away from the girl and her family. Jordan was just convicted of another unrelated child crime.

Jordan will appear in court again on December 12 for sentencing.

Van Strydonck emphasized that this case is separate from a recent case in Ontario County that sparked community outrage.

“I’m sure the Ontario County case received a lot of media attention, and while this may have been the impetus for the Ontario County case, this is a completely separate case involving completely separate individuals, completely unrelated. have to do. and so I think it should be said up front that we are talking about different people here and different charges,” Van Strydonck said.

In the Ontario County case, Shawn Jordan pleaded guilty earlier this year to raping a 13-year-old girl two years ago in South Bristol. An Ontario County Court judge sentenced him to 10 weekends in jail and 10 years’ probation. The girl’s mother begged the judge to send him to prison, but the judge accepted the plea deal.

Van Strydonck said the decision in the Ontario County case had to do with the impact of the victim’s testimony and was not easy.

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