Suspect in Acid Attack Pleads Not Guilty : Whittier Man Faces New Allegations in Assault on La Habra Girl

Mark Edward Hand pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he splashed acid on a 4-year-old La Habra girl and her mother at a park six weeks ago.

The 26-year-old Whittier resident entered the plea in North Orange County Municipal Court in Fullerton after Deputy Dist. Atty. Pete Huelsenbeck amended the criminal complaint to include charges that the attack occurred while Hand was out on bail on a felony case in Downey and that it caused “great bodily injury.” The new allegations could lengthen any prison term if Hand is found guilty.

Municipal Judge Daniel T. Brice ordered Hand to appear March 12 for a preliminary hearing.

Hand’s arraignment had been postponed last month because authorities said he was “not fit for court.”

At the time, officials said the mental health staff at the Orange County Jail had confined Hand to his cell but declined to discuss his case, citing state patient confidentiality laws.

Huelsenbeck said Friday that the issue of Hand’s fitness wasn’t raised at Friday’s brief arraignment.

Doused With Acid

The victim, Rachel Ogawa, had been at a picnic at Los Coyotes Regional Park in Buena Park with her family Jan. 18. As she and her mother were leaving a restroom, a man doused the youngster with two cups of what was later identified as acetic acid.

Rachel suffered first- and second-degree burns on her face, arms, chest and legs, and was treated at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton.

Rachel’s father, Gary Ogawa, an assistant professor of pharmacology at USC, said Friday that his daughter returned to preschool last week and “her recovery is going well . . . . She underwent whirlpool therapy, and there are white blotches on parts of her body, but we hope that the pigmentation will come back. The skin has grown back over, so the burn area is not open anymore . . . .