Robbers Hold 4 in House for 8 Hours

Two men wielding guns held four people captive in a La Crescenta house for nearly eight hours during a robbery, injected themselves and their victims with drugs and raped one of the women, Glendale police said.

The gunmen walked through the unlocked front door of Gregory Fallert’s house in the 3700 block of Pontiac Street about 1:30 p.m. Monday, shortly after Fallert’s mother, Betty Lane, and sister, Diane Racey, had arrived from Glendale for a visit, Sgt. Pete Michael said. The men bound all three while they ransacked the house, Michael said.

Fallert’s 25-year-old girlfriend arrived about 2 p.m., was taken to a bedroom and sexually assaulted by both men, Michael said. She later was tied and gagged.

The victims told police that the men injected themselves with a hypodermic needle, then used it on Fallert and his girlfriend, who said they became drowsy, Michael said. Paramedics at the scene did not determine what was injected, but believe that it was a non-lethal dose of a narcotic, he said.

The men left in Fallert’s car about 8 p.m. after taking several guns, a videocassette recorder, clothing and other items, police said. Lane was able to free herself because the shoelaces used to tie her had loosened.

The victims described the robbers as a 35- to 40-year-old white with blond hair and tattoos and a Latino in his 30s. Fallert, 41, told police that he recognized the former as the person who broke into his house in May and stole his gun collection. Fallert identified one of the guns used Monday, a revolver, as his own, Michael said.