A 47-year-old San Bernardino man is behind bars after authorities say he jumped into a running vehicle on Hesperia Road in Victorville and sped off while the owner clung to the steering wheel, getting dragged by his own car in the process. Allen Hodge was booked into custody on suspicion of carjacking following the Sunday afternoon incident, which left the victim with injuries that have not yet been specified.
According to VVNG.com, the incident unfolded around 12:55 p.m. Sunday in the 12000 block of Hesperia Road, a stretch of commercial and service businesses north of Bear Valley Road. Investigators say Hodge got into the victim's running vehicle, and when the victim grabbed the steering wheel and ordered him out, Hodge refused and drove away anyway, dragging the victim along with the moving car.
Victorville Police Station deputies, who operate under San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department contract, responded to the vehicle theft report, and the sheriff's department issued a written statement describing the encounter. The extent of the victim's injuries from being dragged has not been disclosed, leaving one of the more consequential details of the case still unresolved as the investigation continues.
Reckless-Driver Call Led Deputies to the Suspect
The break in the case came roughly three minutes later, when sheriff's dispatch received a reckless-driver report at approximately 12:58 p.m. near Hesperia Road and Green Tree Boulevard. The vehicle described in that call matched the stolen car, giving deputies a lead to chase down.
Deputies soon located the vehicle unoccupied south of Hughes Road. Nearby, they found Hodge riding an electric bicycle, which investigators determined had been taken from a nearby residence. Deputies detained him on the spot and later returned the e-bike to its owner.
Hodge was booked into the High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto on suspicion of violating California Penal Code Section 215(a), the state's carjacking statute. The facility, opened in January 2006 and operated by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, can house more than 2,100 inmates.
What a Carjacking Conviction Could Mean
Under California Penal Code Section 215(a), a felony carjacking conviction carries a mandatory state prison sentence of three, five, or nine years. The charge is classified as a violent felony strike under the state's Three Strikes Law, a status that, per the Kraut Law Group, requires anyone convicted to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
If prosecutors determine the victim suffered great bodily injury during the carjacking, state sentencing statutes allow for an enhancement that could add three to six consecutive years in prison, according to McElfresh Law. Whether that enhancement will apply depends on the severity of the injuries the victim sustained while being dragged, a detail that remains unknown.
California's carjacking law treats the offense as a crime against possession rather than ownership, meaning charges can be filed whenever a vehicle is taken by force or fear from anyone who had physical control of it at the time, per Power Trial Lawyers. That standard is directly relevant to this case, since the victim was still gripping the wheel when the vehicle took off.
Victorville's Policing Setup and Local Tech
Victorville has relied on the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department for municipal policing since 1962, making it the department's original contract city. The arrangement now covers a little more than 74 square miles and approximately 115,000 residents, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
That contract is the sheriff's department's second-largest municipal agreement, valued at more than $38 million annually. In July 2024, the county allocated $3.7 million toward designing a new, expanded police station across from Victorville City Hall. The sheriff's department also serves the largest geographic county in the contiguous United States, spanning more than 20,000 square miles and providing contract police services to 14 municipalities, per the department's own figures cited on Wikipedia.
In April, Victorville rolled out a Drone as First Responder program in partnership with the sheriff's department, linking automated drones to the Victorville Police Department's Real-Time Information Center for live video overwatch during emergency calls. Hoodline previously covered a related incident in a 13-mile chase in a carjacked Kia involving two 13-year-olds, part of a string of regional carjacking cases handled by county deputies this fall.
Anyone with information about Sunday's carjacking is asked to contact the Victorville Police Station at (760) 241-2911 or sheriff's dispatch at (760) 956-5001. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through We-Tip by calling or texting 844-909-3006, or online at mobile.catapultems.com/sbcsd/sites.
