Police Officer Is Flight Risk, D.A. Contends

Orange County prosecutors asked a Superior Court judge Tuesday to increase bail for a Huntington Beach police officer accused of molestation, calling the officer a flight risk.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Murphy suggested that Officer Mark Trachman’s bail be set at $250,000--an amount that is standard for murder suspects.

Judge Andrew P. Banks postponed ruling on the request until June 6 and instead ordered that Trachman surrender his passport and wear an electronic monitoring device if he posts his existing bail, $150,000.

Trachman, 36, appeared in court Tuesday for the first time since he was charged last week with fondling a 14-year-old girl during a police interview at her home.

Wearing an orange, jail-issued jumpsuit, the officer stood behind a blackened glass screen in the courtroom as his attorney entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.

Trachman faces four felony counts of performing lewd acts on a child, charges that together carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

His attorney, John Barnett, declined to discuss the case, saying he has yet to review police reports about the alleged molestation.

Authorities learned of the allegations May 22 when the teenage girl’s parents called Huntington Beach police to complain about Trachman’s visit to their home on May 21.

Prosecutors allege that Trachman persuaded the girl to remove her clothes, then fondled her and asked her to touch herself when he was supposed to be taking a crime report.

Trachman, who joined the Police Department two years ago after working as an officer in Los Angeles, failed to obey an order to surrender Friday, authorities said.

Sheriff’s deputies eventually found him Sunday at a Chino Hills psychiatric hospital after an anonymous tipster told authorities that the officer had checked himself in for depression. According to a Sheriff’s Department press release, Trachman used an alias while in the psychiatric hospital.

Huntington Beach police have launched an internal affairs investigation to determine whether Trachman should be disciplined.