Browse By

4 men confine woman in her home to rob her of stimulus check, police say

Four Indiana men who allegedly broke into a woman’s home and confined her for hours to steal her stimulus check have been charged, police said.

Top, Paul David Blankenship, Phillip David Guzman, and bottom, Christopher William Jay Henderson and Jacob Baughman.
Top, Paul David Blankenship, Phillip David Guzman, and bottom, Christopher William Jay Henderson and Jacob Baughman.Lake County Jail

Paul Blankenship, Phillip Guzman and Jacob Baughman, all of Lake Station, along with Christopher Henderson, of Hobart, were charged Monday, Lake Station Police Chief James Richardson said.

They are each charged with burglary with a deadly weapon, armed robbery, criminal confinement while armed with a deadly weapon and burglary of a dwelling and residential break and enter, according to court records.

At 5:51 a.m. Sunday, a woman went to the Lake Station Police Department and reported she was held against her will at her home for four hours by the suspects, all of whom she said she knew, police said. The woman told police the suspects were aware she had received her stimulus check and intended to rob her.

She said she awoke when the men broke into her home around 1:30 a.m. She said one of the men immediately grabbed her phone to prevent her from calling 911 and another had a gun, according to police.