Couple Admits Guilt In Stabbing Attack At Mission Viejo Apartment

MISSION VIEJO, CA — Two people pleaded guilty Monday to their parts in an attempted murder of a Mission Viejo man at a local apartment complex last summer, court records show.

It was suspect Adriana Joanna Guillen's 19th birthday, Monday, when she admitted her part in the brutal stabbing attack at the Idyllwillow Apartments on Marguerite Parkway in late May.

Both Guillen and her counterpart, Miguel Angel Huertas, also 19, were immediately sentenced to four- and eight-year prison sentences, respectively.

Huertas pleaded guilty to attempted murder and conspiracy to commit a crime and also admitted sentencing enhancements for attempted premeditated murder, gang activity, inflicting great bodily injury on the victim, and personally using a deadly weapon.

Guillen pleaded guilty to conspiracy and assault with a deadly weapon. An attempted murder charge with a sentencing enhancement for attempted premeditated murder was dropped under her plea deal.

Orange County sheriff's deputies were alerted to the attack by a nurse at a hospital where the victim went for care, said Carrie Braun of the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Guillen agreed to lure the victim, who is in his mid-40s, to the pool at the Idyllwillow Apartments. She sent the man, whose name was withheld, an electronic message to meet her at the pool alone, according to the criminal complaint.

When the victim arrived, Huertas followed the man to a restroom and repeatedly stabbed him with a knife while an unidentified co-conspirator acted as a lookout, according to prosecutors.

The extent of the victim's injuries was not revealed, nor did authorities disclose a motive for the attack.

Huertas has a prior conviction from September 2018 for vandalizing public property in San Juan Capistrano.