Fired Officer Gets 3 Years for Molesting Teen Girl

A former Huntington Beach police officer was sentenced to three years in state prison Friday for molesting a teenage girl while on duty, but the judge expressed concern about the man’s safety behind bars.

Imposing a lesser sentence than the five years sought by prosecutors, Orange County Superior Court Judge James A. Stotler described the case against Mark Trachman as “a two-sided coin. The tragedy goes both ways.”

While saying that “what the defendant did is egregious,” Stotler did not impose the maximum sentence because Trachman “has a lot going for him” as a man with a good record and a decade of community service.

Stotler prohibited photographers from taking Trachman’s picture in his Westminster courtroom, saying publication of a photo “could endanger his life in custody.”

He also took the unusual step of sealing the probation report, which generally becomes public after a sentencing.

Trachman, 37, was convicted in February of lewd conduct with a 14-year-old girl. He was also convicted of a misdemeanor for telling a 26-year-old woman to show her breasts or get a traffic ticket. Both incidents occurred within days of each other in May 2001.

The teen had called police to report that she was raped by an 18-year-old man from her high school.

Trachman came to her home to take the complaint, but during the interview he touched her breasts and asked her to expose her genitals, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Hess.

At Friday’s hearing the girl tearfully pleaded for the maximum punishment.

“I respected him like I respected any police officer,” she said. “He took advantage of me.”

Her father, who also testified, said he is overwhelmed with guilt because he had instructed his daughter to cooperate with the officer and left the two alone after Trachman arrived.

Trachman’s attorney, John Barnett, sought probation because of Trachman’s lack of criminal history and the likelihood that other inmates will mistreat him in prison.

“The time he does will be far worse for him than for an ordinary prisoner,” Barnett said.

Trachman, who was fired in August 2001 and has been free on $150,000 bail, showed no emotion at the sentence. He plans to appeal the case.

Trachman, who is going through a divorce, was an officer in the California National Guard and a physical education teacher before he joined Army Flight Training School in 1994.

He graduated as a helicopter pilot, and in 1996, he joined the L.A. Police Department, coming to Huntington Beach in 1999.