Man charged in Huntington Beach killing

A Santa Ana man was charged Friday with murder in the stabbing death of a Huntington Beach man, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Rito Samuel Tejeda, 22, is being held on $1-million bail in the Central Jail Complex in Santa Ana and faces up to 26 years to life in state prison if convicted.

The district attorney’s office charged Tejeda with murder with a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon.

Tejeda is accused of stabbing Frederick Sledge, 51, repeatedly Oct. 23 in an apartment in the 1400 block of Delaware Street, in Huntington Beach, and fleeing the scene on foot while covered in blood, according to officials.

An off-duty officer, whom officials are not identifying, spotted Tejeda walking near Delaware and Knoxville Avenue with blood on his skin and clothes and contacted Huntington Beach police, according to the district attorney’s office.

Evidence led police officers to the apartment, where they found Sledge.

Tejeda was treated by Huntington Beach Fire Department paramedics and transported to a local hospital.

According to Orange County Superior Court records, Tejeda has been convicted on charges of domestic abuse, child abuse, loitering in public to sell illegal drugs and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia.

Records also indicate that Sledge has had multiple run-ins with law enforcement pertaining to drug possession.

In May, he was convicted of unlawful possession of a controlled substance and possession of controlled substance paraphernalia. In June 2012, he was convicted of unlawful drug possession.

Multiple drug-related charges against Sledge have also been dismissed over the years. In July, charges of unlawful possession of a controlled substance were dismissed. Additionally, a case of bringing or sending a controlled substance into a jail or prison was dismissed in November 2006 and a case of possession of cocaine with intent to sell was dismissed in December 2008.