Restraining Order Stopping Customers From Recovering Cars

Angry customers include owner's cousin

MCALLEN - A restraining order is blocking angry customers from recovering their cars.

NEWSCHANNEL 5 has found 29 people claiming they paid Performance International thousands of dollars for work that was never done.

Linda Ceballos says she paid the company's owner, Mando Hinojosa, over $8,500 to restore her classic car. Three years later, her '57 Chevy is just a shell.

"I'm speechless... To look at this compared to the car I brought in," she says. "He's my cousin and for him to do this to everybody and me? There's no excuse for any of it."

Eric Rodriguez says he paid thousands to fix the engine of his classic Mustang. He drove it to the business, but now he has to tow it to his home to Dallas.

Rodriguez filed a police report and hopes to get his money back. We found at least 10 people who filed police reports against Hinojosa.

Several of them are suing him. He's also being sued by a bank for an unpaid loan.

Javier Perez owns the building where many cars are still waiting to be picked up. His realtor has been helping customers get their cars back.

"We're just trying to return to people what is rightfully theirs," he says. But now, the owner of Performance International is suing him.

Hinjosa's suit claims Perez is interfering with his business. The landlord says he's shocked, especially since Hinojosa owes him tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent, building repairs, and loans.

NEWSCHANNEL 5 visited Hinojosa home and his lawyer's office, but we couldn't find anyone to comment.

When we confronted Hinojosa last week about all the customers' complaints, he said, "All the people who are bad mouthing us owe us money."

But many customers we talked to showed us receipts that said "Paid in Full."

Hinojosa's due in court next week for the lawsuit he's filing. NEWSCHANNEL 5 will continue to bring you the latest developments in this story.