SEAL BEACH : Home Invaders Knew of Cash, Police Say

Three robbers who tied up their victims and ordered them at gunpoint not to look at the robbers’ faces apparently knew that the victims kept a large amount of cash and jewelry in the house, police said Monday.

“They’re all pretty shaken up from this experience,” Detective Darrell Hardin said. “The victims didn’t know them, but obviously, the suspects knew about our victims.”

The incident, described by Hardin as Seal Beach’s first home invasion, occurred about 9 p.m. Sunday when Andrew Manitta, 30, a general contractor, his wife, Lynn, 30, and his mother-in-law, Marie Sockrider, were inside.

Manitta answered the front door and, when he saw no one there, began closing it, Hardin said. Suddenly two robbers, one carrying an Uzi submachine gun and another a semiautomatic handgun, pushed their way into the home. A third robber entered later.

“We’re used to bank robbers using that kind of firepower,” Hardin said, but not home invaders.

Manitta was ordered to open a safe, and the victims were tied and blindfolded. Their mouths were covered with duct tape, then the robbers ransacked the house and took $20,000 worth of silver and gold bars, cash and jewelry, police said.

“Someone told this group of people that (the victims) had money in the house,” Hardin said.

“When the robbers found the safe, they told Manitta to open it. They told him, ‘You better make sure you open the safe the first time,’ ” Hardin said.

No one was injured, police said. But the intruders warned that the victims would be shot to death if they didn’t follow orders.

Manitta was able to untie himself and the others and then telephone police, Hardin said.

A 1985 Mercury owned by the Manittas and taken during the robbery was recovered Monday in Hawaiian Gardens, Hardin said.

The three robbers are white, Hardin said. One, a woman about 32 to 36 years old, stood about 5 feet, 10 inches and weighed about 165 pounds. She had shoulder-length, straight, reddish-copper hair.

The robber who carried the Uzi was 33 to 38 years old, 5 feet 9 to 5 feet 11 and weighed about 170 pounds. He had short, brown, curly hair and wore a white T-shirt and blue jean shorts.

The third was a male aged 29 to 31, 5 feet 9 to 5 feet 11 and weiging 140 to 150 pounds. He wore sunglasses and a flannel-type shirt with a hood over his head.