OJAI : 3 Robbers Pose as Undercover Officers

Three armed men posing as undercover police officers tied up people in an Ojai house Tuesday, told them to lie face down on the floor and robbed them of $400 and a handgun, investigators said.

The three men drove in a red car to the house on East Ojai Road at 3 p.m., yelled the name of one of the victims and banged on the door, Ventura County sheriff’s deputies said.

The men, armed with two handguns and a machine gun, were dressed in civilian clothes, Lt. Gary Backman said. They told the victims--four men and a woman--that they were police officers with warrants.

After tying two of the male victims’ hands behind them with duct tape, the thieves ransacked the three bedrooms and fled with the gun and cash, he said.