Former Cal Poly student sentenced to state prison for campus shooting incidents
Charles Hojaboom.
No injuries were reported in any of the incidents
– A former Cal Poly student has been sentenced to six years and two months in state prison for firearm crimes committed on the university campus in 2023, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
District Attorney Dan Dow announced Dec. 15 that Charles Hojaboom, born April 21, 2004, received the sentence following a no-contest plea to multiple felony charges. On Aug. 27, Hojaboom pled no contest to shooting at an inhabited dwelling, discharging a firearm with gross negligence, vandalism, and five counts of possessing a loaded firearm on a college campus.
Hojaboom’s plea to discharging a firearm with gross negligence included an admission that he personally used a deadly or dangerous weapon. Because of that admission, and because he also pled no contest to shooting at an inhabited dwelling, Hojaboom was convicted of two separate strikes under California’s Three Strikes Law.
The charges stem from four separate shooting incidents that occurred on the Cal Poly campus between June 10 and Nov. 11, 2023. Three of the shootings occurred outdoors at different locations on campus. On Oct. 27, 2023, Hojaboom fired a bolt-action rifle inside his dorm room. Investigators later determined a bullet traveled from his dorm room, through the ceiling, and into the dorm room directly above. No injuries were reported in any of the incidents.
“While we are grateful that no one was injured by these crimes of violence, the safety of everyone on our school and university campuses is of utmost importance,” Dow said. “Gun violence like this will be vigorously prosecuted to appropriately punish the individual and to deter others from committing such crimes.”
There was no agreement between the defendant and the District Attorney’s Office regarding the sentence to be imposed. At the time of the plea, Judge Catherine Swysen indicated she would impose no more than seven years and six months in state prison. The maximum sentence Hojaboom could have received based on his plea was 11 years and six months.
The District Attorney’s Office urged the court to impose the maximum indicated sentence of seven years and six months. Judge Swysen instead sentenced Hojaboom to six years and two months in state prison. The court awarded Hojaboom 1,472 days of custody credits for time already served in county jail. He will be transported to state prison to serve the remainder of his sentence. His eligibility for early release is unknown due to ongoing changes in California law and regulations.
The case was investigated by the Cal Poly Police Department with assistance from the San Luis Obispo Police Department, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office, and the District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigations. Deputy District Attorney Ben Blumenthal of the Special Prosecutions Unit prosecuted the case.
