Warnings About Officer Ignored, Woman Says

Huntington Beach police are investigating the department’s handling of allegations that an officer stalked and harassed a woman three months before he allegedly molested a 14-year-old girl while on duty.

A woman has filed a claim against the city saying the officer came to her house five times between December and February and repeatedly made comments about sex and adult videos. She reported the incidents to internal affairs investigators in February but now alleges the department didn’t seem interested in investigating.

Three months later, Orange County sheriff’s deputies arrested Officer Mark Trachman on suspicion of molesting a teenage girl who was reporting sexual abuse to him.

Huntington Beach Police Lt. Chuck Thomas declined to discuss the woman’s allegations but said the department is investigating how her complaint was handled. The department’s policy is to investigate all complaints against officers “thoroughly and promptly,” Thomas said.

“If any employee has not adhered to that, it would be a separate issue,” he said. “We would investigate that and take appropriate action.”

City officials this week rejected the claim for damages. Brynn Keaty, a 21-year-old waitress, asked the city to compensate her for what she charged was Trachman’s stalking, trespassing and infliction of emotional distress.

According to Keaty’s claim, Trachman first visited her apartment in December, responding with another officer to what they said was a 911 call. Keaty denied calling for help, but the officers entered the apartment anyway, she charges.

Trachman returned to the apartment alone about 20 minutes later, asked about a broken marijuana pipe he found in her closet and promised not to arrest her, Keaty’s claim states. Trachman sat down on a chair in Keaty’s bedroom and said that she “owed him a favor,” according to the complaint.

Keaty contends that Trachman visited her apartment three more times while on duty, making comments on her physical appearance and asking to borrow adult videos. At one point, she asked a neighbor to take a photograph of Trachman at her porch, which she said she provided to authorities in February.

One time, Keaty said, she arrived home to find Trachman parked in his patrol car. She said the officer never touched her but that she considered his behavior highly inappropriate and upsetting. The department should have thoroughly investigated the case, said her attorney, Jerry Steering.

Keaty said she was enraged to learn about the new allegations.

“They knew about this so long ago, and they didn’t do anything about it,” she said. “This is something that could have been prevented.”

Trachman’s attorney could not be reached for comment.