2 arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, sexual assault in Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach police on Wednesday arrested two men from Long Beach on suspicion of kidnapping a woman in the city’s downtown area and sexually assaulting her, then releasing the injured victim in another part of town, police reported.

Florentino Contreras Bacilio, 47, and Angel Lopez Evaristo, 30, were tracked down by police detectives and arrested three days after a passing motorist found the victim Sunday night near Pacific Coast Highway south of Warner Avenue after the attack and contacted authorities, according to a release issued Wednesday.

The victim was taken to a nearby trauma center, where she was treated for numerous injuries sustained during the assault, the release indicated. Details about the woman’s age and city of residence were not being released to the public, but a spokeswoman for the police department confirmed she was an adult.

With minimal information or leads to go on, Huntington Beach detectives eventually tracked Bacilio and Evaristo to Long Beach and apprehended them Wednesday. The suspects are not believed to have had any prior connection to the victim, according to police.

Police had not yet filed the case with the Orange County district attorney’s office on Thursday, but an online prison inmate locator maintained by the Sheriff’s Department showed Bacilio was being held at the Intake Release Center in Santa Ana on $1 million bail and was scheduled to appear in Central Jail Court on Thursday.

Evaristo was in custody but had not yet been fully processed into the system by Thursday afternoon, according to the online portal.

Anyone who may have information relating to Sunday’s incident, or to the suspects, is asked to call the Huntington Beach Police Department Hotline at (714) 375-5066. Anonymous tips may be submitted to the WeTip anonymous crime reporting hotline at (800) 78-CRIME.

Support our coverage by becoming a digital subscriber.