A SoCal woman fights off a brutal kidnapping attempt by an undercover housekeeper

What was supposed to be a quick operation to help support a holiday toy drive turned into a brutal attack and possible kidnapping of a Temecula woman just days before Christmas.

The strange episode began on Dec. 18 when Temecula resident Erin Quinn received a text message asking her to pick up toys for Christmas.

That same Wednesday morning, Quinn received this message from an unknown number in the 213 area code claiming to be an elderly woman named Connie, KTLA 5 reported.

Through text messages, Quinn was told to meet the person who allegedly gave him the toy in an unincorporated area of ​​Perris, known as Winchester, at a house on Memory Lane.

When Quinn arrived at the house, he got out of the car, left it unlocked, went to the door but no one answered, reports ABC 7. He received another message from this number, telling him to wait in the car and the caretaker of the old lady will deliver gifts outside.

“I was completely stopped [there were no presents] and when I got back to my car, I didn’t know someone was waiting for me,” Quinn wrote on a GoFundMe page, which was set up by a friend to help raise money for her medical and psychiatric bills, in addition to repairing her damage. car. Quinn did not respond to The Times’ request for comment before press time.

While in the driver’s seat, Quinn was quickly attacked in the back seat by an unidentified woman wearing a blond wig, according to news reports.

Quinn said her hair was pulled, she was punched several times in the head and forced to drive.

During the 30-minute attack, Quinn told KTLA that her attacker threatened to go after her children and mother.

In self-defense, Quinn kicked her assailant and in “total panic” removed part of her finger, “because I didn’t know what else to do,” Quinn wrote on the GoFundMe account.

Quinn said she tried to get help by getting the attention of anyone nearby.

He wrote: “Many construction workers in the area saw what was happening, it was recorded on video and they did nothing.

At one point, Quinn crashed two cars, and while fighting her attacker, she took off her wig and identified the attacker as her former bodyguard, Olga Mendez, ABC reported.

A bystander eventually intervened, pulling Mendez away from Quinn, but Mendez fled the scene. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department released a news release, stating that deputies initially investigated the incident as a domestic dispute but soon discovered that it was an attempted kidnapping and assault. Sheriff’s deputies responded and transported Quinn to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Quinn told ABC that she and Mendez had an amicable split four years ago.

“I firmly believe his plan was to kidnap me and take me to Mexico to be rescued or sold,” he said on the GoFundMe page.

Authorities identified and arrested Mendez, 44, of Paramount, ten days after the attack.

Mendez was booked into the Cois Byrd Detention Center on charges of kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats and two unrelated warrants, according to the County Sheriff’s Department.