Woodland Man Arrested After Home Invasion

By Lauren Keene

A man’s attempt to be a good Samaritan backfired Saturday, resulting instead in a robbery, kidnapping, and the suspect’s arrest after he broke into an occupied house, Woodland police said.

Paul Alexander Hinojosa, 20,  762 West Lincoln Ave apt # 41 of Woodland, now faces felony charges of attempted robbery, kidnapping, terrorist threats, assault with a deadly weapon and child endangerment, Corporal Jack Schubert said.

Schubert said the series of events unfolded at about 2:45 p.m., as the victim was washing his car in the area of East Street and Gibson Road. Hinojosa reportedly asked for money from the man, who had none to give. Hinojosa then asked for a ride to his home on West Lincoln Avenue.
 
“The victim refused initially because he had three juveniles under 14 years of age with him, but then decided to help,” Schubert said.
 
They were traveling along East Main Street when Hinojosa pulled out a revolver and demanded a detour to an ATM machine, Schubert said. At an intersection, the victim jumped on Hinojosa and fought him for the gun, reportedly receiving several blows to the head in the process.

Schubert said the victim them drove into a nearby parking lot, where Hinojosa fled from the car and was last seen running south on Thomas Street.

Officers were searching the area at about 3 p.m. when they got a report of an interrupted burglary in process in the 1300 block of Nyack Court. Schubert said Hinojosa had entered the house through a back door and “asked the residents to hide him because the police were looking for him.”

Instead, the residents turned Hinojosa to police, and the first victim identified him as the man who tried to rob him, Schubert said. Hinojosa was booked at the Yolo County Jail.

Schubert said officers recovered what was believed to be Hinojosa’s weapon — a BB gun revolver replica — inside an East Main Street business.