CYPRESS : Teens Terrorize, Rob 2 Families in Home

Three armed teen-agers raided a house early Friday morning, terrorizing four adults and their three children for more than two hours before escaping with cash, jewelry and weapons, police said.

No one was injured.

Police said the “home invasion” was typical of a growing trend among Asian youth gangs that break into occupied homes of other Asians to steal money and other valuables.

“They put a gun to my husband’s head. He was sleeping and he didn’t have a chance to even turn around,” said one of the victims, an ethnic Chinese woman from Vietnam who asked not to be identified.

Cypress Police Lt. Phillip Satterfield said the victims’ house in the 5000 block of Olga Avenue had been burglarized twice in the last three years when no one was home. Friday’s raid, however, was the city’s first invasion of an occupied house that he can remember, Satterfield added.

During the two-hour ordeal, the three intruders threatened the victims with guns and a meat cleaver taken from the kitchen.

“They ordered me to lay on the floor and some other guy took one of our knives from the kitchen and he came over and was threatening to use it,” another victim said.

Police said that the robbery started just after midnight, when both families were asleep. The youths broke a sliding glass door at the rear of the house, burst into the bedrooms, woke everyone up and turned on all the lights and the television set.

They then bound the victims with packing tape. As the family members sat helpless, the robbers roamed through the house, barking orders in Vietnamese and English and demanding valuables, the victims said.

Two of the robbers wore ski masks, while the third pulled up a turtleneck sweater to partially cover his face, the victims said.

At one point, the robbers took a 15-year-old and an 11-year-old to a separate room and questioned them for 45 minutes.

They left with a rifle, three handguns, a woman’s diamond ring, a gold necklace and almost $1,000 in cash.

A Westminster police detective, known nationally as an expert in Asian gangs, said that the method of operation in the Cypress robbery was similar to that used by Asian youth gangs.

“That’s the crime they specialize in,” said Detective Marcus Frank.

Frank said that before a home invasion occurs, some Asian gang members stake out homes or glean information through other intelligence-gathering techniques.

For instance, they sometimes buy information from other gangs about the routines of potential victims or the times when the occupants will be home or away.

The attacks are not related to territory or revenge, Frank said.

“It’s strictly for economic gain,” he said.

Friday’s robbery, meanwhile, left many residents along Olga Avenue worried about their home security.

“Everybody’s getting dead-bolt locks on their doors, and my dad was talking about installing an alarm system,” said Zac Loomer, the victims’ next-door neighbor.

“This is very upsetting,” said Monique Bartleson, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1962.