3 Men Sought in Home Invasion Robbery

Three men invaded the Santa Ana home of a 49-year-old woman Wednesday morning, taking off with a safe and a car and slightly injuring the mother of six children, who were home at the time, authorities said.

Chheng Kuy was getting ready to leave for work around 5:30 a.m. when three masked men carrying handguns threatened her as she opened the garage door, said Santa Ana Police Sgt. Raul Luna.

The robbers forced her to go back into her house on South Marine Street.

When she started screaming, one of the men hit her on the back of her head with his gun.

They then herded Kuy and her children into a bedroom, where they were bound and gagged.

Kuy’s 17-year-old son, who was in a back bedroom, heard the scuffle and jumped out his bedroom window.

He jumped a backyard fence and ran to another house on South Marine Street, where he called the police, Luna said.

The robbers ransacked the Kuy house, demanding money and jewelry.

The men took a small safe, loaded it into the family’s new Toyota Avalon and took off.

By the time officers arrived, the robbers had fled, but an officer found the stolen car nearby, in the 2500 block of West McFadden Avenue.

There was no trace of the safe, but police found a pair of rubber gloves they believe the men used in the robbery, Luna said.

Investigators brought in a bloodhound, but the dog lost the robbers’ trail a block north of where the car was found.

“We checked the area but we couldn’t find anything, so we think they had a getaway car waiting,” Luna said.

Kuy was taken to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, where she was treated for minor cuts and released, Luna said.