Band Extorts $27,500 From Frantic Mom

A band of pistol-packing robbers posing as deliverymen lied their way into a spacious house Friday, ransacked the place and then extorted thousands of dollars from the occupants, threatening to harm their four young boys at school, Los Angeles police and witnesses said.

No one was injured in the $27,500 robbery, and police who went to the boys’ schools found them unharmed, LAPD Det. Jim Leahy said.

Leahy said it was unknown how many robbers were ultimately involved in the two-hour-long home takeover, which began about 2 p.m. The robbers were let inside the gated two-story house in the 4900 block of Dempsey Avenue by the mother, who was expecting a delivery.

Once inside, the robbers took out their guns and bound and gagged the mother and her housekeeper and ransacked the residence, Leahy said.

“They kept saying ‘Don’t look at us! Don’t look at us!,’ ” the woman told police. “I said ‘I’m not looking!’ ”

The robbers took cash and jewelry worth more than $20,000, Leahy said. “Not satisfied” with their yield, they demanded more money from the victims, Leahy said, and led the mother to believe they could find and hurt her four elementary and middle school-age sons, who were at school.

The mother paged a friend, who drove by the house and left $7,500 in cash outside. “She beeped me and asked me to bring her money,” said the friend, who did not give her name. “I just felt like something wasn’t right, so I called 911.”

But the robbers grabbed the $7,500 and fled before police arrived, Leahy said. They were described only as men in their 20s.

The shaken family declined to speak with a reporter Friday night.

Residents in the quiet, secluded neighborhood were surprised their street would become the scene of such a crime.

“It’s a sign of the times, I guess,” said one 47-year-old resident who would not give his name. “It’s sad for it to happen here.”