Armed convicted felon in Garden Grove charged with eight felony counts of fraud

Stephanie Barajas must have thought she had gotten away with it. She and other occupants had checked out of a local hotel in Garden Grove about a week ago, but they left behind various credit profiles and fraudulent items behind in the room, according to the Garden Grove police.

After countless hours of investigation, Garden Grove police department property crime detectives positively identified Barajas as a suspect, made an arrest and wrapped up a two-week long fraud investigation.

Yesterday, Barajas was located and taken into custody without incident.
During the search of Barajas’ vehicle, an unregistered .25 caliber semi-auto handgun with loaded magazine, and a box of ammo was found, along with several items related to fraudulent activity.

In the course of the investigation, numerous people were contacted and confirmed they were victims of identity theft.

It was also founded that Barajas is a convicted felon, who has violated her probation, cannot posses a firearm and had over $14,000.00 of fraudulently obtained EDD unemployment money in her account.

She was later booked into the O.C. Central Jail, charged with eight felony counts of fraud and three counts of firearms/ammunition possession.

Art Pedroza Editor
Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.
Art Pedroza

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

View Comments

  • This is why we don't believe in "gun control" unless you mean "using both hands and hitting what you're shooting at". AGAIN, we have a convicted felon in possession of a firearm who is not allowed to be. But, the answer for this it to take guns away from law abiding citizens.

  • I would hit it , quit it , then never admit it. Even a convicted felon like her can accuse anyone of rape and they would believe her.

    • That's REALLY creepy. Why did you have to talk about having sex with her? And rape? NOTHING IN THIS ARTICLE MENTIONED HER ACCUSING ANYONE OF RAPE. You are a weirdo. Her being a felon has nothing to do with being sexually assaulted and or accusing anyone of it. Keep your thirsty comments to yourself.

    • How about the weirdos and creeps keep their thirsty comments about her to themselves, huh? Not sure how her criminal record has anything to do with accusing someone of rape and talking about "hitting it and quitting it, and not admitting it". Gross.

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