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ALPINE -- The family of an elderly Alpine man, who was robbed at gunpoint and handcuffed to a door, is offering a $10,000 reward for tips that lead to the arrest of the people responsible.
The home-invasion robbery happened in the middle of the day Thursday in Alpine. It's been a tough couple of days for the man, whose wrist is now black and blue from being handcuffed.
The three masked men didn't get away with anything valuable, but the man's son, James Patterson, says the violent ordeal has destroyed his father's peace of mind.
"It was just horrific. Here he is, 89 years old," said Patterson. "He's playing that back over and over of men coming in the home in masks and guns and handcuffing him to the door."
It seems clear, the robbery was not random. In fact, the same 89-year-old man's home was burglarized a year ago and coins, worth more than $100,000, were stolen.
We're offering as a family a $10,000 reward for any information that can lead to the arrest and conviction of these three men. Mainly it's just to bring peace to my dad.
–James Patterson
Many of the coins were later recovered, possibly leading the robbers to believe the man still had the money in his home.
"They handcuffed him to the door and put the gun in his back and told him they'd kill him if he didn't tell them where his money was and where he kept his money," said Patterson.
On Thursday morning, Patterson's father had just been visited by home health care when three men came into the house and demanded his money. At gunpoint, they dragged him from his wheelchair and forced him to open his safe, which had nothing valuable inside.
One of Patterson's wrists was forcefully handcuffed and the other cuff was put around the doorknob.
"My dad was able to pull the pins out of the door after they left," Patterson said. "He pulled the pins out of the hinges and dragged the door over to the phone and called me and told me to call the police."
The coins stolen and recovered last year were all put in a safety deposit box at a bank. This time, the robbers got away with only a few sentimental items. But Patterson believes they may have been looking for the coins.
"They said, ‘We know you got a safe, we know you got the money back. Where is at? We're going to kill you if you don't tell us,'" said Patterson.
Since the people responsible for the original burglary have been in jail for several months, the victim's family wonders if these robbers were former cellmates.
"We're offering as a family a $10,000 reward for any information that can lead to the arrest and conviction of these three men," Patterson said. "Mainly it's just to bring peace to my dad."
Patterson hopes someone will come forward to help catch the people who terrorized his father.
""We're just hoping, we know people do the wrong thing for money, and we're hoping someone will do the right thing for money," he said.
A neighbor reported seeing three men wearing white shirts leaving the home in a green Subaru. They got a partial license plate of 019.
Lone Peak police continue to remain very quiet about the robbery and told us Saturday there is no new information to release.
Anyone with information on this case can report it at 801-756-9800.
E-mail: spenrod@ksl.com
