Brandon McGibbon, 33, solicited child pornography from teen girls over a two-year period while he was employed with the San Diego Police Department.
SAN DIEGO — Text messages between a San Diego police officer and several underage girls show the officer was enticing minors to send him nude photos and videos of themselves, according to court documents obtained by News 8.
San Diego Police Officer Brandon McGibbon, 33, a six-year veteran of the department, was indicted and arrested Friday, May 20 to face numerous federal counts of child sex abuse charges. He’s accused of sexually enticing up to 20 girls from Jan. 2023 to Nov. 2025. By the time he was arrested, he was no longer employed with the San Diego Police Department.
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“Defendant’s occupation as a police officer, a position of trust and authority, gave him no pause in committing these crimes,” reads a motion to detain filed by U.S. prosecutors.
McGibbon faced a federal judge Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
News 8 reached out to San Diego Police, the San Diego branch of the FBI and the local DOJ for comment on March 3 about McGibbon but authorities could not comment at the time.
The FBI was first made aware of McGibbon’s alleged solicitations in April 2025, when a woman reported that a San Diego Police Officer tried to buy pornographic photos and videos of her off of social media from when she was a teenager.
In Nov. 2025, FBI agents searched McGibbon’s home that he shared with his stepbrother and stepbrother’s wife along with their two underage children. His phone had myriad chats with confirmed and suspected underage girls. Documents say he would reach out to the teens, primarily on Snapchat, and admire their appearance or ask if they wanted to be “spoiled” or be given the “princess treatment.”
He’d sometimes offer money or Shein gift cards in exchange for modeling outfits his money paid for. He’d also sent gift cards for the online gaming platform Roblox.
“While some of the females only ‘teased’ him with clothed photographs and videos in exchange for money, in others he engaged in sexually explicit conversations with multiple minors who sent him nude photographs and videos,” the document reads. “He also asked adult women to send him images and videos of themselves as minors.”
One 17-year-old victim McGibbon spoke with in Oct. 2025, sent him video pornography of herself in exchange for a handful of gift cards, amounting to more than $100 for several nude photos and videos.
He also lied about his age on numerous occasions and told victims he was between the ages 24-28, according to the document.
McGibbon tells another 17-year-old victim in Oct. 2025 that he’s willing to “risk it all” by driving to her in Arizona to have sexual relations with her. The text message log shows her and McGibbon planning how she could sneak him into her house for them to have sex without her mother knowing.
“Hmm, I’m off during the week and late at night,” McGibbon wrote on Snapchat. “I could come and be there at 7 or 8 and stay a night or something.”
He adds, I’m going to risk it all for you. Let’s plan it.”
McGibbon asked her to ditch class for him, but she declined.
A third victim, a 16-year-old girl, was offered a Shein gift card if she wanted “to be spoiled with money or gifts.” As McGibbon tried to convince her to send him nude photos in exchange for more gift cards, he continuously asked her to tease him. He soon tried to meet up with her for sex, but she declined and said not unless they get married after she’s 18.
“What if I buy u a ring [right now] and spoil u all the time can we have sex and then make babies in a few years,” he propositioned over Snapchat.
“After we get married,” she wrote back.
“Okkk but when? Cuz I wanna make you my wife and spoil u forever,” he wrote.
Federal prosecutors said he was a “serious flight risk and a danger to the community.”
“He sexually exploited not one minor victim, not two minor victims, but three minor victims, at very nearly the same time over the course of one to two weeks,” the documents read. “This behavior was not isolated, as demonstrated by the investigation, the number of victims is in the dozens and spans over several years. As a part of his exploitation, [McGibbon] paid for and directed the production of child pornography, as well as planned to meet the minors for sex. While this conduct was over the course of about two weeks, the larger scale of the investigation shows the conduct expanding from January 2023 to November 2025. [McGibbon] was a police officer during this entire time. [McGibbon] knew these were children. He did not care. Underaged females were what [McGibbon] was specifically seeking. And now, he is facing serious consequences for his heinous offenses.”
McGibbon was placed on administrative leave with San Diego Police on Nov. 11, 2025.
In a statement to News 8 after McGibbon’s arrest, San Diego Police said:
“Allegations of this nature are deeply concerning. From the moment we learned of this investigation, SDPD has fully cooperated with federal investigators and assisted as requested. McGibbon was suspended and his police powers were removed. We hold our officers to the highest standards, and these allegations do not reflect the great work of the men and women of the San Diego Police Department.”
McGibbon is facing at least 15 years in prison if convicted of the charges and could be sentenced to life in prison.