Modesto man arrested after breaking into home and snatching little boy at another home
MODESTO — A Modesto man was arrested after allegedly breaking into his ex-wife's sister's home and trying to take a kid from the front yard of a different house.
According to the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department, neighbors called 911 at 7 a.m. about a man in a grey sedan offering kids a ride to school.
Three hours later, just a few minutes away, on Lassen Avenue, they got a call about the same car outside Daisy's home.
Jose Mendoza broke into Daisy Sandoval's, his ex-wife's sister's, home.
"He broke a broom that we had, and I like he broke it to make like a dent to break in," said Daisy.
Daisy called her sister, but by the time she arrived, Mendoza left the scene.
"And I had my window open. That was the scary part. Because when he went to the side to go look at my window, he peeked in, and we made eye contact, and I immediately screamed."
Investigators say that he went just a few blocks away to Imperial Avenue, reached over a fence, took a little boy out of the front yard, placed him in the bed of a neighbor's truck, and then took off in his car.
"It's kind of disturbing because I have grandkids that stay with me sometimes," said a neighbor.
Mendoza is at the Stanislaus County Jail tonight, facing vandalism, home invasion, and kidnapping charges.