Couple Report Money Taken in Robbery

Police are investigating a Santa Paula couple’s report that four armed men stole $6,000 to $7,000 from them after ransacking their Oak Street home during a home invasion robbery Wednesday morning.

The man and his wife, who police declined to identify, told authorities that three of the men displayed revolvers and the fourth wielded a knife taken from their kitchen. The four handcuffed the husband before fleeing along California 150 toward Ojai in a black Jeep Cherokee, they said.

The couple said the money had come from their participation in a tanda, which they described as a group of people who pool their money and make low-interest loans among themselves on a rotating basis, Hanson said.

The couple told police that the men demanded money after searching for valuables, and that the woman gave them the cash from the tanda.

Neighbors did not see any unfamiliar vehicles in the area, Cmdr. Mark Hanson said.