A Fullerton man who authorities say assaulted a woman and stole her vehicle outside a Placentia restaurant last month has been charged in federal court with carjacking and illegally reentering the United States after previously being deported, prosecutors announced Monday.
Miguel Abrajan-Morales, 30, who has been deported twice to Mexico, was charged in a federal criminal complaint with carjacking and in a separate complaint with being found in the United States after deportation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Abrajan-Morales remained in state custody Monday at the Theo Lacy Facility in Orange and was also facing an Orange County Superior Court charge of assault with a deadly weapon, federal prosecutors said.
According to affidavits, the incident occurred the evening of Feb. 27 as two restaurant employees were leaving work in Placentia. Authorities allege Abrajan-Morales approached a woman with whom he previously had a romantic relationship as she sat in the driver’s seat of her 2025 Ford Bronco and entered the vehicle without permission.
He then struck the woman in the face multiple times, prosecutors said. The woman exited the vehicle to escape while a coworker who witnessed the attack ran toward the SUV and began fighting with the suspect, according to the complaint.
After the altercation, Abrajan-Morales allegedly moved to the driver’s seat and drove away in the Bronco, nearly striking both victims as he exited the parking lot. The vehicle collided with a parked Honda Civic near where the victims were standing, prosecutors said.
Both victims suffered visible injuries and told authorities they believed the suspect intentionally tried to hit them with the SUV, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Abrajan-Morales was arrested March 1 in Ontario.
Investigators later determined he had been deported from the United States to Mexico twice in October 2016 and had not obtained permission from federal authorities to reenter the country, according to prosecutors.
If convicted, Abrajan-Morales would face up to 15 years in federal prison on the carjacking charge and up to two years in prison on the illegal reentry charge.