By Stephen Stirling
Police said they were looking for two Hispanic men who forced their way into a three-story house at gunpoint Dec. 27, tied up three children who were home and made away with hundreds of dollars in Christmas gifts the family had received just two days earlier, authorities said.The robbery occurred just after 4 p.m. at 155th Avenue and 78th Street, police said.”Two people asked for me by name and my eldest son opened the door,” said Jocasta Bonnet, the victims' mother.Bonnet said she arrived home a short time later to find her three sons – 16, 14 and 9 – tied up and blindfolded in the bedroom of their home, and she called the police. Bonnet said she did not recognize the men from surveillance footage, but she owns a local clothing store and the men might have gotten her name off her business card.Authorities said none of the boys were injured in the robbery. The two men took several valuables from their home, Bonnet said, including a Playstation 2 game system, a DVD player, a $500 Louis Vuitton bag and several other items her children had received for Christmas days earlier.”They took all the toys,” Bonnet said, “all the things for the children.”Police said no arrests had been made as of Tuesday, but high-resolution surveillance cameras captured the men entering the three-story home and leaving 30 minutes later. The cameras show the men casually strolling up to the apartment and then exiting with bags of stolen items under their arms. One of the men waved at a neighbor as he left the home's front gate.The men, who both appear to be in their 20s or 30s, then got into a red sedan parked on the street and drove away. One of the men was wearing a black leather jacket, a white cap and a light colored shirt. The other was wearing a black jacket and a brown do-rag. A mechanic who asked not to be named was working across the street throughout the day the robbery occurred and said nothing seemed out of the ordinary. “They have like six or seven cars in that driveway,” he said. “People are coming in and out all of the time, everything seemed normal.” Police said the investigation was ongoing.Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at (718)229-0300 Ext. 162.
