Former Cal Poly Student sentenced to 6 years, and 2 months in prison for shooting firearms and possessing firearms on campus

Author: District Attorney
Date: 12/15/2025 5:09 PM

District Attorney Dan Dow announced today that former Cal Poly student Charles Hojaboom (DOB 04/21/2004) has been sentenced to serve 6 years and 2 months in state prison for his firearm crimes committed in 2023 on the Cal Poly campus.

On August 27, 2025, Hojaboom pled no contest to the following criminal charges: shooting at an inhabited dwelling, discharging a firearm with gross negligence, vandalism, and five counts of possessing a loaded firearm on a college campus. The defendant's plea to the crime of discharging a firearm with gross negligence included his further 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 now stands convicted of two separate "strikes" under California's Three Strikes Law .

The charges in this case stem from four separate shooting incidents that occurred on the Cal Poly campus between June 10, 2023, and November 11, 2023. Three of the shootings took place outdoors at separate locations on campus. On October 27, 2023, Hojaboom fired a bolt action rifle while inside of his dorm room. Investigators later discovered a bullet had traveled from inside of Hojaboom's dorm room, through the ceiling, and into the dorm room directly above. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported during any of these shootings.

"While we are grateful that noone was injured by these crimes of violence, the safety of everyone on our school and university campuses is of utmost importance," said District Attorney Dan Dow. "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 as to what sentence would be imposed based on his plea. However, the Honorable Judge Catherine Swysen indicated to Hojaboom at the time of his plea that she would impose no more than 7 years, and 6 months in state prison. The maximum sentence Hojaboom could have received based on his plea was 11 years, and 6 months.

In order to protect the safety of our community, the District Attorney's Office urged Judge Swysen to impose the Court's maximum indicated sentence of 7 years, and 6 months. However, Judge Swysen imposed a more lenient sentence of 6 years, and 2 months in state prison. Based on his time already served in county jail since he committed the crimes, the Court awarded Hojaboom 1,472 total days of custody credits towards his sentence. Hojaboom will be transported to state prison to begin serving the remainder of his sentence forthwith. His future eligibility for early release is unknown at this time due to continuous changes to California law and regulation.

Our filed trial brief with more detail is here. Our filed sentencing brief is here.

This 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. The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Ben Blumenthal assigned to our Special Prosecutions Unit.

Here is a copy of the defendant's booking photo. Here is a copy of the charging document: Information Filed.

For questions, please contact Assistant District Attorney Eric Dobroth (805) 781-5819.
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