An Irvine police officer pleaded not guilty Thursday to assault and battery charges stemming from an alleged off-duty attack in Torrance last summer on a male friend of his girlfriend.
Paul George Gebert, 33, is charged with one felony count each of assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury and battery with serious bodily injury.
Gebert went to his girlfriend's home in Torrance while off-duty, saw the man on the couch and allegedly began beating him, inflicting serious injuries, last July 8, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Gebert is on administrative leave from the Irvine Police Department, and there is an ongoing personnel investigation, said Kim Mohr, the department's communications manager.
Gebert -- who is free on $30,000 bail -- is due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom April 30, when a date is scheduled to be set for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to require him to stand trial.
If convicted as charged, he could face up to seven years in state prison, according to the District Attorney's Office.
