Cop faces charges of abusing minor

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- A city police officer is set to appear in a

Westminster courtroom twice over the next few weeks, to face accusations

of committing lewd acts with a teenage girl.

A June 6 bail review and June 11 preliminary hearing were set Tuesday

for Officer Mark Trachman, 36, who faces four felony counts of performing

lewd acts on a 14-year-old girl, whose name has not been released, West

Justice Center court officials said.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Andrew P. Banks raised Trachman’s

bail from $50,000 to $150,000 during the hearing, ordering him to

surrender his passport and wear a monitoring device should he post bail.

If convicted, Trachman could face a maximum sentence of five years in

prison.

John Barnett, Trachman’s attorney, entered a not guilty plea on his

client’s behalf. The attorney did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Authorities said they were notified of the alleged misconduct May 22,

by the girl’s parents, who complained about the officer’s visit to their

home a day earlier to take a crime report.

Prosecutors said Trachman persuaded the girl to remove her clothes,

then fondled her and asked her to touch herself.

Upon receiving the complaint, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department

was immediately asked to investigate, and an in-house administrative

investigation also has been launched, said Lt. Chuck Thomas of the

Huntington Beach Police Department.

Sheriff’s deputies took Trachman, of Riverside County, into custody

Sunday after he failed to obey a surrender order Friday and used an alias

to check into a Chino Hills psychiatric hospital, Sheriff’s Department

officials said.

Sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino said the criminal investigation is

still underway as Trachman appeared in court, adding that cases like this

usually take some time to complete.

“The sheriff’s investigation is looking into what laws may have been

broken,” Thomas said. “What we’re doing is working to identify any

policies or anything else specific to this department that may have been

violated.”

Trachman has served with the city’s police force for the last two

years, following a three-year stint with the Los Angeles Police

Department, police said.