Police Officer Charged With Fondling Girl, 14

Orange County prosecutors filed criminal charges Friday against a Huntington Beach police officer accused of fondling a 14-year-old girl at her home.

As of late Friday, Orange County sheriff’s deputies who were to arrest 36-year-old Mark Trachman couldn’t find him, authorities said.

While on patrol Monday, Trachman was dispatched to interview the girl at her Huntington Beach home. Authorities would not elaborate on the crime he was investigating. The officer interviewed the teenager at length in her dining room and asked her to undress, said Dist. Atty.’s Office spokeswoman Tori Richards.

“The basis of these charges is that he convinced the victim that he needed to do a physical examination of her in which he fondled her, and he had her partially disrobe,” Richards said.

On Tuesday, the girl’s parents called Huntington Beach police to complain about the officer, authorities said. The department immediately placed Trachman on paid administrative leave.

Prosecutors charged the officer with four felony counts of performing a lewd act on a child and asked that he be held in lieu of $50,000 once in custody. If convicted, Trachman faces up to five years in prison.

The announcement of the criminal charges came as a blow to colleagues and city employees.

“The officers are in shock,” Huntington Beach Police Lt. Chuck Thomas said. “You want to believe that it’s not true.”

Trachman joined the Huntington Beach force two years ago after spending three years as a Los Angeles police officer.