ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — A judge on Jan. 23, 2026, heard testimony at the Newport Beach Harbor Justice Center in a preliminary hearing involving a consolidated felony complaint alleging an armed home invasion, multiple criminal counts and six enhancement allegations involving aggression.
Judge John Adams presided over the hearing, which involved four people accused in the case. Deputy District Attorney Gully Gerard represented the people of California, while Richard Dreiling, Katherine Corrigan, Laurence Young and Douglas Lobato appeared as defense counsel for the accused.
Prosecutors called three Irvine police officers and one investigator to testify. Their testimony outlined the prosecution’s version of events, relying on witness statements and evidence gathered during the police investigation.
Officer Abelareo Blanchet testified first.
Blanchet said that at about 3:30 a.m. on Sept. 23, 2025, he was dispatched to a residence in Irvine for a 927 call, classified as an unknown trouble call. Blanchet testified that he was the third officer to arrive and spoke with one of the victims at the scene.
The victim told officers he lived at the Irvine home with his wife and children and had awakened to the sound of a sliding glass door shattering. He reported hearing his brother-in-law yell “break in,” and said he saw two people holding handguns.
According to police testimony, the suspects ordered the brother-in-law and then the first victim downstairs at gunpoint and tied their hands behind their backs with duct tape. The brother-in-law was ordered to lie face down in the hallway with his hands and mouth taped. The first victim’s mouth was not taped, but his hands were bound, and he was positioned with his back against the front door.
The victim then observed a physical altercation between his wife and one of the intruders. His wife, who had gone into a bedroom with the children after hearing the commotion, was calling 911 when one of the intruders entered the room, grabbed her arms and took the phone from her hand.
Officer Christopher Hallinan testified that he was dispatched at 3:34 a.m. for an unknown trouble call and later spoke with two other women who were inside the home. According to Hallinan, the women described hearing a noise and seeing the brother-in-law being forced down the stairs at gunpoint.
Hallinan testified that a second intruder grabbed one of the women and forced her downstairs, then grabbed the second woman and also brought her down the stairs. The suspects left shortly afterward, according to the accounts Hallinan received.
One woman reported seeing three men wearing ski masks and at least one firearm, which she described as a silver semiautomatic handgun with a black slide. The second woman told police she recalled seeing only two people involved.
Detective Rebecca Steen, a peace officer with 14 years of experience, testified about the follow-up investigation. Deputy District Attorney Gerard questioned her extensively to establish the collection and reliability of the evidence and witness narratives.
Steen testified that one of the victims told Officer Blanchet he saw three suspects enter a white sedan. Investigators obtained video footage from a Tesla parked in the home’s driveway, which showed a white Dodge Charger driving past the house shortly before the invasion and traveling in the opposite direction after the suspects left.
Steen testified she used the Flock automated license plate reader system to identify the vehicle. The car and its license plate were captured first by a traffic camera in Irvine and then, about 50 minutes later, by a camera in Fontana.
Using that information, investigators traced the vehicle to an address in Fontana, where officers towed and searched it. Inside the car, police found an identification card, a debit card, a single round of ammunition, ski masks, gloves and other clothing.
According to Steen, the identification card led investigators to a person who was out on pretrial release in an unrelated case. Investigators used the suspect’s phone number to obtain a warrant for cellphone location and usage data from the service provider.
Steen testified that the cellphone data showed the suspect traveling from Victorville to Irvine and back on the night of the crime. Based on that information, officers arrested the suspect.
Steen said she advised the accused of their Miranda rights and interviewed them three times. The accused initially denied involvement but later admitted to acting as a lookout and allowing the use of their vehicle in exchange for money.
The arrestee told Steen that they were positioned in a car down the street with several other people who were also offered money. According to the testimony, one person was offered $5,000 to act as the driver for what was described as the planned event.
Steen testified that investigators reviewed Instagram messages and encrypted messages sent through an app called SimpleX, which they said corroborated the timeline and statements provided by those arrested.
Using Instagram messages, detectives arrested a second suspect, who was identified as the person allegedly offered $5,000 to drive. Steen testified that this person told investigators they knew only where they were driving, not the nature of the alleged crime.
According to Steen’s testimony, one of the accused, whom the first arrestee described as the organizer, allegedly targeted the family because they were believed to possess substantial cryptocurrency holdings. The plan, Steen said, was to restrain the victims and obtain the password to a cryptocurrency account, then “wash” or mix the digital currency to make it untraceable.
Steen testified that a photograph sent through SimpleX showed one of the accused giving a thumbs-up over a ledger believed to contain the password for the cryptocurrency account. Investigators said the image helped confirm the involvement of another suspect.
The final accused was identified based on information provided by the original arrestee, who told investigators when and where an accomplice allegedly purchased the duct tape used in the incident. Steen testified that investigators obtained surveillance footage from the store and used it to identify that suspect.
The preliminary hearing is scheduled to reconvene Monday, Jan. 26, at the Newport Beach Harbor Justice Center.
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