Family Tied Up, Robbed Overnight In Somerton
By Dan Wing and Jan Carabeo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia Police are searching for three suspects following a home invasion robbery in Somerton where a family was tied up.
Police say it happened a little after 1 a.m. at a home on Faraday Street near Maple Avenue.
Three men wearing masks and gloves broke in through a rear door, and tied up a man and woman in their 60s and their 37-year-old son.
The family tells CBS 3's Jan Carabeo they heard the suspects say, "We have the wrong house" and they believe this is a case of mistaken identity.
The family has lived on the block for nearly 40 years. They say police live on the block too, and they didn't even feel a need to their alarm on at night, but now that has changed.
Chief Inspector Scott Small tells CBS 3 Eyewitness News, "We do not know why this particular house was targeted. This is normally a really quiet neighborhood. There's very, very few calls for service in this area. It's one of the quietest neighborhoods in the city."
Police say the suspects were ordering the family members to tell them where the money is, and when the family said they do not have any money in the house, the suspects began to ransack the home.
"Pulling out drawers, and overturning drawers and some furniture on all three floors of the house."
Small says the suspects made off with some cash from the son's wallet, but not much else.
"The electronic devices they had, computers, flat screen TVs, are all still in the house, so we believe these perpetrators were looking for cash."
The family was able to untie themselves and call police after about a half hour.
No one was injured. Small says police hope that cameras at a nearby church can help in the search for the suspects.