BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS

-- Danette Goulet

Former Long Beach Police Officer Michael McDonald has been moved to

the Orange County Jail and his bail has been raised to $250,000 as he

awaits trial on charges of luring a 14-year-old boy to his Costa Mesa

apartment and sexually assaulting him.

McDonald, 60, is charged with three counts of lewd acts with a child

younger than 16, three acts of child abduction and six other counts of

sexual assault.

After his arraignment at Harbor Justice Center on Friday, McDonald was

moved to the county jail, where he now waits for his Feb. 28 pretrial

hearing.

The investigation into McDonald began about four months ago in El

Dorado County in Northern California, where the victim is from, said

Costa Mesa Police Lt. Dale Birney.

It began when the boy’s parents allegedly found correspondence between

their son and McDonald on their home computer.

McDonald befriended the boy via the Internet sometime late last year,

police said.

During the course of those months, multiple meetings between the boy

and McDonald allegedly took place in his Costa Mesa apartment.

It was on these trips that the lewd acts and assaults took place,

Birney said.

When the El Dorado deputies came to Costa Mesa last month to question

McDonald, they found the boy at his apartment and arrested McDonald,

Birney added.