BELLINGHAM - A 69-year-old man was bound with electrical wires and robbed at his home in a Bellingham subdivision in broad daylight last week.
The victim was asleep in his bed at 2:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14, when someone took a shovel from a backyard shed and shattered a sliding glass door of a house in the 2100 block of Wildflower Court, said Vikas Sondhi, the man's son. The home is sardined into a dense neighborhood but has a wooded trail in the back.
The man was groggy when he looked up to see two black men, who spoke what he described as an African-sounding language, standing over him. They beat him before grabbing electrical wires to tie down his arms and legs. They gagged him with cloth and took his cell phone.
"He thought they were going to kill him," Sondhi said.
The victim later told police he didn't know the robbers. For about 30 minutes, they "ransacked" the home, said Bellingham police spokesman Mark Young. Sondhi estimated about $30,000 in jewelry, Canadian cash, electronics and other property was taken.
"Unfortunately," Sondhi said, "the neighbors and their dogs were inside."
So nobody reported anything - until something spooked the men and they ran outside to what possibly was a waiting car. Sondhi's father was able to untie himself and call police. He noticed the front door had been left open.
Both suspects remained at large as of Monday. They're described as 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-9 black men with a medium build, aged 25 to 30 years old. No further description was available. It's possible another man may have been keeping a lookout outside.
Sondhi isn't sure why the home was targeted. But his best guess is that some burglars believe they can get valuables, especially jewelry from an Indian household.
Sondhi's father suffered bruises but did not need to be hospitalized.
"It was shocking for us," Sondhi said.
He added that he plans to put locks on each door of his house so if anyone breaks in at least whoever's inside will have time to call police.
Reach CALEB HUTTON at caleb.hutton@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2276.
