A former Fresno police sergeant was convicted Thursday of attempting to commit lewd acts with a child under 14 following an undercover investigation by Roseville police that led to 19 arrests.
A Placer County jury found Paige Grant McQuay guilty of attempted lewd and lascivious acts upon a child under 14 and communicating with a minor with the intent to commit an unlawful sexual offense, according to the Placer County District Attorney’s Office.
The verdict followed a six-day trial in Placer Superior Court. The court also found additional aggravating factors to be true, prosecutors said.
McQuay was arrested in September 2024 as part of a Roseville Police Department sting operation targeting adults seeking to engage in sexual activity with children online.
Roseville detectives posed as children on messaging apps during the investigation, which resulted in 19 people being arrested on felony charges, police said at the time.
McQuay, then 56, was arrested in Fresno on Sept. 18, 2024, while serving as a sergeant with the Fresno Police Department.
He had worked for the department since 1993 and was promoted to sergeant in April 2023. At the time of his arrest, McQuay supervised about 15 officers assigned to a patrol unit in Fresno’s northeast policing district.
McQuay was scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 9 in Auburn, prosecutors said. He remains in custody following the verdict, according to the DA’s Office.