3 Robbers Take Jewelry, Cash in Home Invasion

LAGUNA HILLS — In the latest of a string of home invasions, more than $35,000 worth of jewelry and an unknown amount of cash were stolen by three armed men during a residential robbery in Laguna Hills, authorities said Wednesday.

In an unrelated robbery, four men tied up residents in a house in Westminster but were later arrested, police said.

The first robbery occurred in Laguna Hills about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday when three men, believed to be Vietnamese, followed a man to his home on Willit Lane and entered after the victim failed to close his garage completely, said Sheriff’s Department spokesman Lt. Richard J. Olson.

One robber held the victim down as the other two ransacked the house.

Olson said the men, armed with handguns, found a safe in the house and were able to take an undetermined amount of cash from it. Stolen jewelry was worth more than $35,000, he said.

The men, who escaped, left the victim tied up with a telephone cord. He was not harmed.

In Westminster, four Vietnamese men entered a house in the 7000 block of 16th Street shortly before 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, said Police Lt. Mike Schliskey.

Schliskey said that one of residents was talking on the phone when the armed men entered and began pulling out electrical cords to tie the residents up.

The person on the other end of the phone line contacted police, who arrived while the robbery was still in progress.

Shots rang out from behind the house as the four suspects, along with the residents, ran outside, according to Schliskey.

“Everybody in the house just fled when the shots were fired,” Schliskey said. “I guess they were just scared, and we ended up trying to catch suspects and victims at the same time.”

A two-hour search by police from Westminster and Fountain Valley located the suspects less than two blocks away.

Tu Van Phan, 19, of Orange, Hung Than Nguyn, age unknown, also of Orange, and Hieu Chi Nguyn, age and address unknown, arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery. The fourth suspect, a 17-year-old Orange youth, was taken to Juvenile Hall.