[url]http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/2396640p-2448402c.html[/url]

OCEAN VIEW: Men wearing ski masks push their way into home.

By Tataboline Brant
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: December 31, 2002)
Two armed men posing as federal drug enforcement agents pushed their way into a South Anchorage home Monday, bound three people with duct tape and demanded the combination to a gun safe, Anchorage police said.

The incident occurred at 758 Ocean View Drive, said police spokeswoman Anita Shell. Inside the residence were homeowner George Lukens and his two sons, ages 21 and 23.

About 1:45 p.m., someone knocked on the door, Lukens said. "As soon as I opened it, they stiff-armed me and knocked me over backwards."

The two were armed with guns and knives and dressed in black and blue, Lukens said.

They yelled, "DEA, DEA, get to the ground!" he said. Lukens said he told the men he didn't have any drugs and they told him to shut up.

"They wrestled with me across the living room floor," he said.

The men handcuffed Lukens' hands behind his back and used duct tape to bind his ankles and blindfold him, he said.

"They wrapped it like seven times around my head," Lukens said. "They did the same thing with my boys."

One of Lukens' sons was in the shower; the other was in the living room. Both were also bound with tape.

Lukens said he asked the men for identification. "Anytime we said anything, they'd kick us," he said.

Lukens said the men closed all the drapes in the house and used a bed sheet to cover a set of French doors. They seemed to speak on a telephone to someone. Lukens said he heard one of the men say, "Everything's under control."

"They were here forever," Lukens said.

The men demanded the combination to Lukens' gun safe, at one point holding a razor under his chin, he said. They also retrieved his asthma inhaler when he had an asthma attack.

When the men couldn't open the safe with the combination Lukens provided, they ordered him to open it. While he was trying to do so, one of his sons managed to free his hands and hop outside. After Lukens' son began yelling for help, the men fled in the family's Ford station wagon.

Police found the car abandoned on Johns Road about 30 minutes later. Canine units combed the area but lost track of the suspects in the area of O'Malley Road and C Street.

Police believe they may have been picked up hitchhiking in that area between 2 and 2:45 p.m. They are described as males, about 25 to 30 years old, wearing black ski masks. Anyone with information is asked to call Anchorage police at 786-8500 or Crime Stoppers at 561-STOP.

Reporter Tataboline Brant can be reached at [email protected] and 907 257-4321.



I have often thought of this scenario.... Criminals barge into your house yelling "ATF!" or something similar.

This is the first time I have heard of it happening.  So now I have to determine whether or not the trespassers are who they say they are before I shoot them...

I lived in Oceanview from 1984-1990 and 1996-1998.  One of the better parts of town.

I always stop for hitchhikers in ski masks!

It doesn't sound like they went straight for anything.

[b]"Lukens said the men closed all the drapes in the house and used a bed sheet to cover a set of French doors. They seemed to speak on a telephone to someone. Lukens said he heard one of the men say, "Everything's under control."

"They were here forever," Lukens said.[/b]

I really doubt it was any kind of inside job.  Man that's gotta suck to be pulled out of a shower and bound with tape!

I've heard of 2 or 3 incidents like this around the Dallas / Fort Worth metroplex in the past ten years.

Robbers identify themselves as police or sheriff and barge in to commit rape, murder, or theft.

No response from the public authorities on how to handle this if it should happen to you.

This will be YOUR judgement call.

I haven't heard about it.  It wouldn't suprise me though - it seems to work quite well for the perpetrators.

As far as I am concerned, I have done nothing to warranta a raid, therefore it is reasonable to belive that anyone attempting to force entry to my home is not a cop, even if they claim to be, but somebody intent on doing me harm.

In NC, deadly force is legal to prevent entry to a home if the resident reasonably belives the perp intends to commit a felony or assault those inside.

If drugs were involved, they would have been mentioned I'm sure.  They are very proud of themselves around here when they knock the marijuana trade down by .00000000001%.

I suspect it is someone they know, or that one of the kids was bragging about the guns they had.  Something to that effect.

I do see a very few hitchikers, but don't recall anyone wearing ski masks, ever.