Robbers Invade 2 Homes, Attack Residents, Take Cash, Car, Goods

Robbers invaded two homes in Santa Ana and Huntington Beach and assaulted residents Tuesday in separate attacks 20 minutes apart, police said.

In Huntington Beach, a woman in the 20000 block of Richard Street answered a knock on her door at 2:40 p.m. and was asked by a man if she had any aluminum cans, said Sgt. Chuck Thomas of the Huntington Beach Police.

“He followed her into her house and assaulted her with a knife from her home,” Thomas said. “He attempted to rape her but was unsuccessful.”

The man escaped on foot with $270.

The woman was taken to Huntington Beach Medical Center where she was treated and released with stab wounds to her throat, Thomas said.

Twenty minutes later in Santa Ana, five men jumped over a gate to the back yard of a home on the 600 block of Raitt Street and forced their way into the house with handguns, Santa Ana Police Sgt. Dick Faust said.

Two men in the house, Heriberto Ochoa, 62, and Manuel Valadez, 27, were struck with gun butts in the neck and cheek.

Their hands were tied with cable wire and they were forced to lie in a hallway as the robbers ransacked their home.

Neither victim was hospitalized.

The intruders escaped with a 1984 Lincoln Continental, a handgun, VCR and gold jewelry.