Orange County Deputy Arrested, Charged With Assaulting Girlfriend

NEWPORT BEACH (CBSLA) – An Orange County Sheriff's deputy was arrested Thursday on allegations of assaulting his girlfriend following a birthday party last month.

Twenty-eight-year-old Kyle Edward Pickard of Rancho Santa Margarita surrendered to authorities on one count each of domestic battery with corporal injury, false imprisonment by violence or menace and making criminal threats.

Pickard is accused of attacking his girlfriend after a Jan. 19 birthday party, the O.C. District Attorney's Office reports.

He was booked and released on $50,000 bail. His next court hearing is scheduled for March 19.

"It is a sad day when a law enforcement officer violates the law he is entrusted to uphold," O.C. District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. "As a sworn peace officer, he sees this type of violence in his career all too often and he should know there are other options. Violence is never the answer."

The Orange County Register reports that Pickard has been with the department since 2011 and has been on administrative leave since the arrest.