Murder suspect uses several different names

A man who allegedly has given police several names has been arrested and charged with attempted murder.

Police have identified him as an undocumented immigrant who’s been working in Thousand Oaks as a day laborer. The names he has given to police are Genaro Hernandez, Fidel Robledo and Jose Rojas.

Because he’s an undocumented immigrant and has given law enforcement officials different names during previous contacts, his correct name and date of birth aren’t officially known, said Thousand Oaks Detective Eric Buschow.

The man was booked as Jose Rojas but later told police he was actually Genaro Hernandez, 23, Buschow said.

On Sept. 1, detectives arrested the day laborer after he was identified as a suspect in a stabbing that occurred near Hampshire Road and Thousand Oaks Boulevard on Aug. 30.

The arrest took place at the county’s PreTrial Detention Facility in Ventura, where he had been detained in connection with an Aug. 30 residential burglary in Westlake Hills that occurred two hours after a 30-year-old man was stabbed.

According to police, the series of events started when a man was robbed Aug. 13 of his cellphone while at the city’s day laborer site at 3120 Royal Oaks Drive near Hampshire Road. Later the robbery victim was contacted by one of the robbers, who offered to return the phone for a price. That person was arrested Aug. 26 on charges of possession of stolen property and extortion. The investigation then focused on the man claiming to be named Hernandez.

Police say that on Aug. 30 Hernandez found the robbery victim walking on Crescent Way and stabbed him in the chest with a knife and then fled the scene, dropping the knife nearby.

The victim staggered to the nearby Alliance gas station, where he was able to summon help, Buschow said.

The stabbing resulted in a collapsed lung for the victim. He was admitted to the intensive care unit at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in critical condition. After recovering, he was released from the hospital on Sept. 2, according to hospital spokesperson Kris Carraway-Bowman.

Two hours after the stabbing, Hernandez was arrested in connection with the residential burglary in Westlake Hills.

Hernandez is being held in lieu of $550,000 bail on charges of attempted murder and residential burglary and is on an immigration hold.

Buschow said that it’s not uncommon for undocumented immigrants, who come into the United States with no identification on them, to give a variety of names so they can’t be easily identified when arrested.