1 Home Invasion Suspect Identified

Using the homeowners’ own 16-camera surveillance system, police have identified a gunman in a brazen Saturday home invasion robbery in Rancho Cucamonga.

Carlos Vasquez, 20, and five unidentified men carrying a gun, baseball bats and golf clubs forced their way into a home in the 6100 block of Ashton Place, bound its occupants and escaped with $50,000 in cash, clothes and jewelry, police said.

Joseph Hunter, a mortgage broker, is listed in property records as the owner of the two-story, four-bedroom house. Hunter and music producer Andre Galin, who also lived at the house, were entertaining three women early Saturday when the men followed one of them into the house, police said.

The woman had gone outside to speak on her cell phone shortly before the robbery. On the tape, the thieves are seen following her into the house, but police said they haven’t determined whether she assisted with the robbery.

“We haven’t confirmed anything yet,” said Sandy Fatland, a Rancho Cucamonga Police Department spokeswoman. “We have to talk to her.”

Hunter was beaten with a golf club, Fatland said, and both men were tied up. Hunter did not require hospitalization, authorities said.

According to San Bernardino County court records, Vasquez has been convicted of receiving stolen property, possession of marijuana and drunk driving since 2002.

Police do not have an address for Vasquez, but said he frequents Pomona and Fontana and might be driving a red, late 1980s model Ford Escort.

Authorities have not identified the other five suspects, Fatland said.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at (909) 477-2800.