Police: DNA used to link Costa Mesa man to stolen car’s crash into home

Costa Mesa police said Wednesday that they arrested a man after finding DNA evidence linking him to a stolen car that crashed into a house last year.

Alfonso R. Campos, 19, of Costa Mesa was arrested about 2 a.m. Tuesday, police said.

Investigators believe he was driving a Ford Fusion that ended up embedded in the living room of a Mendoza Avenue home on Sept. 9. A pregnant woman and her husband who were upstairs at the time were unhurt, according to police.

When police and fire officials responded at about midnight, witnesses said they saw a slim Latino man about 20 years old fleeing the scene.

Police said they determined the car had been stolen from Huntington Beach.

Costa Mesa investigators sent DNA evidence to the Orange County Crime Lab, and in January officials matched the DNA to Campos, authorities said. Police said that after his arrest, Campos admitted he was involved in the crash.

Officials booked him into Orange County Jail on suspicion of vehicle theft. Bail was set at $20,000, according to Sheriff’s Department records.

Police asked that anyone with information about the case call Traffic Investigator Darren Wood at (714) 754-5264.