Officer in Molestation Case Is Arrested

A Huntington Beach police officer accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl was arrested Sunday night, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department announced.

Mark Trachman, 36, was arrested after police received an anonymous tip that he had checked himself into a Chino Hills mental hospital, said sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino.

Trachman was arrested at Canyon Ridge Hospital on four counts of child molestation and was being held at the Men’s Central Jail in Santa Ana on $50,000 bail.

The charges stem from an alleged incident in which Trachman fondled the teenager and persuaded her to remove her clothing and fondle herself during a visit in which he was supposed to take a crime report.

The arrest comes five days after the teen’s parents complained to police about what they said occurred in their dining room in March. After the Orange County district attorney filed charges of lewd conduct with a child, a Huntington Beach police official called Trachman at his Riverside County home at 1 p.m. Friday and ordered him to come to the station.

When he didn’t show up, Orange County sheriff’s deputies went searching for him.

Police arrested Trachman on Sunday after receiving a tip that he had entered the hospital complaining of depression, Amormino said.

Amormino said he did not know why Trachman had chosen the hospital. Trachman apparently drove himself to the facility.

Earlier in the day, police were working on tips that he had been seen in his former neighborhood in Rancho Santa Margarita.

One of Trachman’s former neighbors said he saw Trachman’s wife, Tiffany--but not him--Saturday afternoon. The two had a brief chat, but Trachman’s wife did not mention anything about her husband, the neighbor said.

“I just . . . asked her what’s she doing, what she’s been up to, but she said she had to go. She didn’t look too happy,” said Nathan Terry, who lives near the Trachmans’ condominium on Via Pamplona.

Terry said he was shocked by the allegations against Trachman.

“You’ve got to be joking,” Terry said. Aviation records show he has a commercial license to fly airplanes and helicopters. Huntington Beach police said Trachman’s flying hobby was commonly known. It was unclear Sunday whether investigators had checked local airports.

The Orange County district attorney had issued a warrant forcing any sworn officer who contacted Trachman to immediately arrest him.

According to neighbors, Trachman had worked as a police officer in South Central Los Angeles but began working in Huntington Beach after he tired of the overnight shift.

He has been with Huntington Beach police for two years. Trachman was also placed on administrative leave last week.

He was described as an avid dirt-bike rider in addition to being a pilot. Both he and his wife are active joggers.

Huntington Beach Police Lt. Luis Ochoa said since hearing about the warrant being issued, he worried about the officer’s mental and emotional state and his access to a weapon.