RivCo Man Admits Molesting Girl And Woman In Temecula

MURRIETA, CA — A 31-year-old convicted sex offender who molested a girl outside a Temecula high school and groped a woman at a nearby mall pleaded guilty Wednesday to lewd acts on a minor and other offenses.

Jacob Brian Paulsen of Perris on Wednesday admitted the lewd acts count, as well as sexual battery, child endangerment, attempted lewd acts on a minor and annoying an underage victim, under a pretrial agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. No charges were dismissed.

Superior Court Judge John Molloy scheduled a sentencing hearing for Dec. 16 at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta. The prospective sentence was not stipulated in court minutes.

Paulsen is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Smith Correctional Facility.

According to sheriff's Sgt. Miguel Santos, shortly after 5 p.m. on Sept. 19, 2025, deputies were alerted to a sexual assault involving a girl in the 40000 block of Winchester Road, in the immediate vicinity of Chaparral High School.

The circumstances behind the encounter between Paulsen and the juvenile were not disclosed.

Santos said that during their investigation, deputies also discovered the defendant 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 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.