4 males arrested in string of violent home invasions

Armed holdups victimized two elderly couples, man and his toddler

SAN JOSE >> Three men and a teen boy have been arrested in a trio of violent home invasion robberies where they allegedly assaulted and tied up elderly victims and held a man and his toddler at gunpoint, according to San Jose police.

Two of the robberies occurred May 31, and a third was reported June 7. One instance was partially captured by a resident's dashboard camera as she arrived home. She later discovered her husband and young child had briefly been kidnapped.

All three adult suspects have been charged. San Jose police said Thursday that investigators were asking area residents to review their home surveillance footage for video and images capturing the group's past movements, which they believe could tie the group to other related crimes.

The first robbery was reported the afternoon of May 31 at a home in the 600 block of North Capitol Avenue, where an elderly couple reported that they were “violently assaulted” and tied up with belts by intruders brandishing a handgun, according to police.

Police said the group used that stolen car to travel about a mile north to a home in the 1000 block of Summerdale Drive in the Penitencia neighborhood. There, they allegedly threatened at gunpoint a man who was with his 15-month-old child and forced the man to go to a nearby bank and withdraw cash.

The group also was tied to a third robbery June 7. In that incident, the group is accused of assaulting and holding up an elderly couple at gunpoint and ransacking their home on Bolero Drive in South San Jose. Police said one of the victims was able to call for help; responding officers arrested Armando Manzano and Daniel Mendez, both 19-year-old San Jose residents.

Robbery detectives later identified 23-year-old Eduardo Santiago as also being involved in the home invasions, as well as a 17-year-old boy whose name was withheld because he is a minor. Santiago was booked into jail June 17.