Huntington Beach police arrest 4 in suspected murder-for-hire plot

Huntington Beach police arrested four men who are suspected of conspiring to kill someone they knew for monetary gain.

Huntington Beach residents John Reid Taylor, 67, and his sons Joseph Jordan Taylor, 29, and Matthew Austin Taylor, 27, were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of solicitation to commit murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Matthew Taylor had additional charges of resisting arrest and failing to provide a DNA sample, police said.

Police arrested Travis James Sprague, 36, of Long Beach, on Wednesday on suspicion of solicitation to commit a murder.

The four men are being held in the Orange County Superior Court West Justice Center in Westminster with bail set for each at $1 million, police said.

Late last week, Huntington Beach police received information from the FBI regarding the planning of a conspiracy to commit murder.

Undercover Huntington Beach detectives met with one of the suspects and “negotiated a price to murder a person well known to the suspects,” police said. “It appears financial gain was the motive for the attempt to have the victim murdered.”

Search warrants were served in Huntington Beach, Westminster and Long Beach to take the suspects into custody, police said.

Police are not disclosing further details regarding the relationship between the suspects and the victim.

Anyone with information regarding the suspects can call the Huntington Beach hotline at (714) 375-5066. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous can call Orange County Crime Stoppers at (855) 847-6227.

Carpio writes for Times Community News.

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