An Orange County sheriff’s deputy accused of attacking his girlfriend following a birthday celebration in January pleaded not guilty after turning himself in to authorities on Thursday, Feb. 20.

Kyle Edward Pickard, 28, of Rancho Santa Margarita, surrendered to authorities and was later released on $50,000 bail, officials from the Orange County District Attorney’s office said in a news release. He faces one felony count each of domestic battery with corporal injury, making criminal threats, and false imprisonment by violence or menace.

“It is a sad day when a law enforcement officer violates the law he is entrusted to uphold. 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,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. “Violence is never the answer.”

Pickard was accused in connection with an incident that took place on Jan. 19, OCDA officials said. Deputies responded at about 2 a.m. that morning to reports of domestic violence at a residence in Rancho Santa Margarita, and wound up booking the defendant on suspicion of causing physical injury to a spouse or cohabitant and making criminal threats, sheriff’s spokeswoman Carrie Braun said.

Sheriff Don Barnes said the department “responded appropriately” in arresting Pickard, and noted that he has a right to due process.

“We need to remember there is a criminal justice process, and the same protections under the law are afforded to everyone,” Barnes wrote in a statement. “We are also cognizant of the victim in this case, who should be treated with dignity and respect through the criminal justice process as well.”

The accused deputy was off duty at the time, and had been working patrol duty, Braun said. He was hired in 2011, and has been on administrative leave from the OCSD since his arrest, Braun said.

Pickard was scheduled to appear in court at the Harbor Justice Center on March 19. He faces as many as three years in state prison if convicted on all counts.