Crime & Safety
Convicted Sex Offender Accused Of Molesting Two In Temecula To Stand Trial
The defendant is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Smith Correctional Facility.
MURRIETA, CA — A 31-year-old convicted sex offender accused of molesting a girl outside a Temecula high school and groping a woman at a nearby mall must stand trial for lewd acts on a minor and other offenses, court records confirmed Friday.
Jacob Brian Paulsen of Perris was arrested last September following a Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigation.
At the end of a preliminary hearing that concluded Thursday afternoon, Superior Court Judge John Molloy found there was sufficient evidence to bound Paulsen over for trial on the lewd acts count, as well as sexual battery, child endangerment, attempted lewd acts on a minor, annoying an underage victim and parole violations.
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The judge scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment for Sept. 16 at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta. The defendant is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Smith Correctional Facility.
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According to sheriff's Sgt. Miguel Santos, shortly after 5 p.m. on Sept. 19, 2025, deputies were alerted to an alleged sexual assault involving a girl in the 40000 block of Winchester Road, in the immediate vicinity of Chaparral High School.
The circumstances of the alleged encounter between Paulsen and the juvenile were not disclosed.
Santos said that during their investigation, deputies also discovered the defendant allegedly had inappropriate physical contact with a woman he'd accosted hours earlier in a shopping mall less than two miles away in the 20000 block of Ynez Road, near County Center Drive.
No one was injured during either of the alleged assaults.
The defendant was located in the area and taken into custody without incident hours later.
Paulsen is a registered sex offender, and according to the California Department of Justice, he has prior convictions for assault with intent to commit a sexual offense, sexual battery and contacting a minor to commit a sexual offense. He served three years in state prison, from which he was released in the spring of 2025, the agency said.
