Officer in Court on Sex Case Involving 13 Girls

A Long Beach police officer pleaded not guilty Wednesday to more than 40 sex-related counts involving 13 underage girls and three young women, and a future court date was set.

Noe Yanez, 40, is charged with 29 felony counts and 13 misdemeanor counts, including unlawful sexual intercourse, oral copulation of a person under 18, sexual penetration by a foreign object of a person under 18 and false imprisonment by fraud or deceit.

Yanez, a nine-year Long Beach Police Department veteran, remains jailed on more than $1.2 million bail. He is due back Aug. 1 in Los Angeles Superior Court for a preliminary hearing.

Yanez was initially arrested April 19 on suspicion of possessing child pornography. He was re-arrested May 9 in connection with the charges filed last month, which allege crimes between January 2008 and April 13 of this year. The Long Beach Police Department has said that Yanez met the alleged victims in the course of his work assignments, but did not elaborate.

Yanez was suspended without pay from the Long Beach Police Department, according to Sgt. Aaron Eaton.

--City News Service