Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Hazleton Man Arrested for Rape of Adolescent Girls in Frackville

A Hazleton man is free on bail after being taken into custody on Tuesday for the alleged rape of two adolescent girls in Frackville.

Antonio Luis Hinojosa, of Hazleton was arrested on Tuesday June 21, 2022 by Frackville Police Officer Devin Buccieri and Detective Thomas Robin of the Schuylkill County District Attorney’s Office.

Hinjosa, 61, had charges filed on June 15, 2022 of indecent assault, corruption of minors, unlawful contact with minors, rape, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, corruption of minors and endangering the welfare of children.

Court records state that two adolescent children were the victims. The first victim stated that initial inappropriate touching started in 2019, but stopped for two years and began again in July of 2021, when the victim was left with the defendant while her mother was away. It was then that she was raped. The assaults allegedly continued until September of 2021.

Hinjosa instructed her “not to tell anyone, because it would be her word against his, and it would make her seem crazy.”

The second victim stated that in July of 2021, the defendant attempted to touch her inappropriately by putting his hands down her pants and trying to kiss her. She also stated that the abuse started in 2020 around Thanksgiving. When the victim told Hinjosa to stop, he told her to lower her voice. By October of 2021 Hinjosa started sending the victim text messages in Spanish telling her to delete any text messages that were sent on an app called “WhatsApp”.

Hinjosa was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Edward J. Tarrantelli. He was committed to Schuylkill County Prison on Tuesday, unable to post $75,000 straight cash bail on the first set of charges, and $50,000 straight cash bail for the second set of charges.

He was released after posting bail Wednesday morning for both sets of charges.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 29, 2022.