Five arrested after search of H.B. hotel room reveals drugs, cash and fake checks, police say

Five people were arrested early Thursday after a search of a Huntington Beach hotel room revealed drugs, cash, fraudulent checks and materials related to identity theft, police said.

Shortly after 2 a.m., Huntington Beach police officers contacted two men in the parking lot of the hotel in the 7600 block of Center Avenue, according to Officer Angela Bennett, who would not identify the hotel.

Officers determined that an arrest warrant had been issued for one of the men and that the other was on probation, Bennett said.

The two were associated with a room at the hotel, prompting police to conduct a search, Bennett said. They contacted three other people inside the room, where they found methamphetamine, she said. The quantity wasn’t known Thursday.

Luis Manuel Aguayo, 24, of Anaheim; Danielle Kristine Owens, 30, of Las Vegas; Dennis Loc Nguyen, 32, of Santa Ana; Ernesto Jesus Portillo, 34, of Santa Ana; and Abel Raul Barajas, 28, of Anaheim were arrested on suspicion of possessing or forging fictitious checks, possessing narcotics and narcotics paraphernalia, conspiracy to commit a crime and identity-theft-related crimes, according to Police Department arrest logs.

Nguyen also is suspected of passing checks with intent to defraud, grand theft, shoplifting and false impersonation, police records show.

All five were booked into the Huntington Beach city jail, with bail for Barajas, Owens and Portillo set at $20,000. Aguayo, who police said had an outstanding arrest warrant, was booked on $35,000 bail. Nguyen is being held without bail due to multiple arrest warrants, police said.

Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber.