Home Invaders Disable Alarm, Hold Up Popular Singer Shobou, Wife In Elmont
ELMONT, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- An Elmont, Long Island man was pulled out of bed and robbed early Thursday, and the thieves got into his home even though it had an alarm system.
As CBS2's Dave Carlin reported, the assailants' method of entry could have you checking around your house.
Home invasion robberies happen to the most security-conscious people – like Roger Eugene, known internationally as Shobou, founding member and lead singer of Tabou Combo.
With more than 45 years in the limelight, especially in Haiti, France and the Caribbean, he has security bars on his windows and an alarm system for his home.
But three men whom Eugene said he never saw got in at 2 a.m. Thursday by removing one of the bars on a basement window and crawling inside.
"I've been living in the area for the past 25 years and that happened, unfortunately," he said.
The alarm never went off. Eugene said the robbers snipped the line.
"They cut off the phone and Slomin's (Shield) could not get access to me," he said.
Now the singer and his wife, who recently had surgery on her leg, were captives in their own home.
Eugene said soon afterward then came the scariest 15 minutes of his life he, as his wife were down on the floor their heads covered with pillows, and the trio of home invaders demanded money.
They didn't get away with much.
"They take only $60," Eugene said.
The three men did not take anything else. Eugene said he and his wife were both fine hours afterward.
"I want to tell everybody that I'm all right," he said.
Neighbors think perhaps that the two Mercedes Benzes in the driveway caught the eye of the robbers, or that they knew a successful singer lives there.
"Someone has to know," said neighbor Ramon Rocaurt. "It could be someone who knows him, because I never heard anything like this before, and then this guy doesn't have any problem with anybody; with anyone."
Eugene had a cut on his hand from the incident, but will not let it get in the way of his band's busy schedule -- which includes an upcoming performance in Spring Valley and tour in Mexico.