A former Los Angeles Police Department narcotics detective pleaded no contest Wednesday to a domestic violence charge stemming from a Long Beach 2010 attack on his girlfriend. A judge then sentenced him to a 5-year prison term.
Richard Womack, 50, pleaded no contest to corporal injury on a cohabitant and admitted a special allegation of using a knife, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said. The DA said that Long Beach Police Department investigated the case.
According to police and prosecutors, Womack attacked his girlfriend on Oct. 25, 2010, in Long Beach, striking her with a knife and threatening her with a shotgun.
Womack was originally charged with one felony count each of domestic violence, making criminal threats, false imprisonment by violence and car theft. He was also charged with felony counts of making criminal threats, dissuading a witness by force and car theft, along with a misdemeanor count of battery, in connection with another alleged attack in September 2011.
In a fall 2011 story, the Press Telegram's Tracy Manzer reported:
Womack allegedly attacked his girlfriend on two separate occasions, striking her with a knife and threatening her with a shotgun on Oct. 25, 2010; and fighting with her in front of friends and threatening her with a piece of wood, according to the DA's Office.
On both occasions he drove off with her car without her permission, the complaint alleges.
Long Beach Police were called out for at least one of the incidents and responded to the area of Bellflower Boulevard and Conant Street at about 8:15 p.m. on Sept. 2, said Nancy Pratt, a Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman. Womack was no longer at the scene, but was later arrested.
The Long Beach Police Domestic Violence unit investigated the case and presented findings to the D.A.'s special unit that prosecutes politicians, public officials, law enforcement and lawyers.
--City News Service contributed reporting.
