2 Robbers Roll Owner in Rug, Then Roll Off With the Goods : Crime: Men take off with Persian rugs worth $500,000. A sheriff’s official says it’s the first case of its kind he’s seen in his 20 years.

Two robbers tied up a West Hollywood merchant, rolled him into an expensive Persian rug, and made off with 60 imported rugs valued at $500,000 Monday, authorities said.

Samuel Shaoulian, 46, owner of Samuel’s Rug Gallery in the 500 block of North La Cienega Boulevard, wriggled free 30 minutes later and called authorities. He was otherwise unharmed, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.

“In 20 years, this is the first time I’ve come in contact with a robbery victim who was rolled up in a rug,” Lt. William Henderson said.

The store is in an area dotted with fashionable shops, many dealing in imported rugs.

Investigators said Shaoulian was alone about 8:30 a.m. when two men entered the store with a large suitcase, which they said contained a rug they wanted to sell.

When Shaoulian bent down to help open the suitcase, one of the men pulled out a handgun, and, after binding the owner’s hands with duct tape, rolled him up inside a display rug.

“It evidently happened very quickly,” Henderson said. “There are no known witnesses. They apparently took the merchandise while the victim was bundled inside the rug.”

Shaoulian declined to discuss the incident.

“He’s pretty shaken up,” an employee, who did not want to be identified, said of his boss.