Anaheim man pleads guilty to Stanton strangulation

SANTA ANA – A 30-year-old Anaheim man pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison Friday, Dec. 7 for the strangulation murder of an acquaintance in a Stanton motel room.

Michael Anthony Aparicio pleaded guilty to first-degree murder with prosecutors dropping a special circumstance allegation of robbery during a murder as part of the plea deal. Aparico would have faced life in prison without the possibility of parole if he had been convicted at trial of the special-circumstance murder.

Aparicio and a woman friend met the victim, 61-year-old Floyd Keith Taylor Jr. at a 7/Eleven store, and decided to consume drugs together in Taylor’s room at the Chester Inn Motel in Stanton on Halloween 2015 about 6 a.m., said Senior Deputy District Attorney Scott Simmons.

At some point, Aparicio strangled Taylor with a bungee cord and then put a pillow and cover over the victim’s face before taking his wallet, Simmons said.

Aparicio attempted to use Taylor’s Supplemental Security Income card at a gas station in Garden Grove, but it was rejected. Aparicio then told an acquaintance that he found a wallet and handed the card over to him to use at a bowling alley, Simmons said.

Sheriff’s deputies were called to the motel room at 10 a.m. on Oct. 31, 2015, when an employee found the victim’s body, Simmons said.

There were some issues with proving the legal theory of robbery during a murder, so prosecutors felt a plea deal was the best way to resolve the case, Simmons said.