6 Gang Members Charged in Home Invasion Robbery

Six admitted members of a Garden Grove gang have been charged with armed robbery in connection with a home invasion this week, police said.

The robbers picked a home in the Tustin Ranch neighborhood, near Pioneer and Jamboree roads, and drove there Tuesday morning in a Toyota van stolen from Garden Grove, said Tustin Police Sgt. Brent Zicarelli.

After one of the robbers knocked on the door, he and two others forced their way in when a 43-year-old woman answered, Zicarelli said.

They reportedly tied up the woman and a 15-year-old girl with sheets and locked them in a closet after threatening them with a butcher knife. They took a television, stereo, computer equipment, a stereo and credit cards, police said.

Zicarelli said gang members typically get to know a member of the family and learn what valuables might be inside the house. He said the robbers in this case got the information from a third party who knew the teenage girl.

Investigators from the Tustin Police gang unit used a tip to find two of the robbers, and over the next several days pieced together details that led them to the rest of the suspects, Zicarelli said.

Sheriff’s deputies spotted the van that had been reported stolen, and recovered most of the property.

The Orange County district attorney’s office filed robbery charges against Tung Hinh Dinh, 21, of Garden Grove; Quan Nguyen, 19, Hung Thanh Nguyen, 19, and Truong Xuan Nguyen, 18, all of Stanton; a 15-year-old from Garden Grove and a 15 year-old from Santa Ana, police said.

Each of the adults is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail. All were charged with assault with a deadly weapon, criminal conspiracy, burglary, receiving stolen property and being part of a criminal street gang, officials said.

The two victims, fearing for their safety from other robbers or other members of the gang, have asked that their names not be released, Zicarelli said.

“It’s sad to say, home invasion robberies are on the rise,” he said. “The potential for injuries in something like this is tremendous. When we see these, we want to go out on them as quickly as possible because of the potential of danger to the community.”