Long Beach Officer On Leave for Alleged Assaults

A Long Beach Police Department officer pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 21 criminal charges that he assaulted and threatened his wife with weapons including a hammer, belt, broomstick, flashlight and baton in their Pico Rivera home from last fall until his arrest Thursday.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Upinder S. Kalra ordered Brandon Preciado, 29, jailed in lieu of $450,000 bail while awaiting a hearing Jan. 27 to determine if there's sufficient evidence to order him to stand trial. Kalra also issued a protective order barring Preciado from contacting his wife or coming within 100 yards of her; the judge ordered him to attend alcohol-related classes three days a week, to wear an alcohol monitoring device if he is able to post bail, and to surrender his guns within 24 hours of his release.

Preciado, an LB patrol officer of six years, was temporarily relieved of his duties pending further investigation, Long Beach Police Department spokeswoman Public Information Officer Nancy Pratt said. She added: ``We are conducting an administrative review and will take the appropriate course of action."

The alleged assaults occurred between Sept. 18 and Thursday in the couple's Pico Rivera home, according to Deputy District Attorney Jason Lustig. The criminal complaint alleges that the weapons include a flashlight, belt, hammer, broom handle and baton. It took Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies more than five hours to get Preciado to come out of his home early Thursday. Preciado issued his plea late this afternoon at the downtown L.A. courthouse on 10 felony counts of corporal injury to a spouse, six felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon, three felony counts of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and one felony count of criminal threats. Preciado also is charged with a misdemeanor count of resisting, obstructing or delaying a peace officer.

--With City News Service reporting.