Trial selection begins for former officer...

Trial selection begins for former officer

Jury selection began Tuesday for a 37-year-old former Huntington

Beach police officer accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl while on

duty.

Prosecutors say Mark Trachman fondled the girl at her home during

a police interview in which she was reporting an incident of sexual

abuse to him. He also faces two misdemeanor charges for allegedly

asking two other women to expose themselves during separate traffic

stops.

Trachman has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges. His

attorney, John Barnett, had argued that Trachman “was at all relevant

times acting within the scope of his employment as a police officer.”

Trachman was arrested in May 2001. He was fired from the

Huntington Beach Police Department in August 2001 after he was

charged with allegedly asking the women to expose their breasts.

Rape trial to begin later this month

A jury trial for a 23-year-old Huntington Beach man suspected of

raping and bludgeoning a woman more than three years ago has been

postponed to Feb. 20 because of the prosecutor’s schedule.

Police arrested Victor Miranda-Guerrero in June 2000, several

months after 29-year-old Bridgette Elizabeth Ballas was beaten, raped

and left unconscious on Huntington Street during the early hours of

Nov. 27, 1999. She died two days later.

Investigators did not get a break in the case until police

arrested Miranda-Guerrero on suspicion of attacking five women

Downtown on May 26.

Student narrowly escapes drowning

An Edison High School student was rescued from drowning in the

school’s swimming pool last week by a school employee.

The 14-year-old boy, who has Down syndrome, was swimming with the

rest of the special education program’s swimming class when the

instructor noticed that he had been under water for too long. By the

time he was pulled from the water, he was reportedly blue and

unconscious.

A school employee successfully performed CPR on the boy. As a

precautionary measure, he was taken to Fountain Valley Hospital. He

is expected to make a complete recovery.

Police promote one and retire two

Police Chief Kenneth Small promoted a sergeant to the rank of

lieutenant at a department ceremony last Wednesday.

Lt. Craig Junginger will be assigned to the Uniform Division as a

watch commander. Two retiring officers, Jack Lennon and Dennis Ford,

were issued retirement badges at the same ceremony.