Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Bandits in Ski Masks Invade, Rob Three Lancaster Homes : Crime: Descriptions of the assailants and their techniques are similar. Deputies urge residents to take extra precautions.

LANCASTER —  Ski mask-wearing robbers have broken into three residences here in the last two weeks, authorities said. In two of the robberies, the intruders tied up and assaulted the occupants at gunpoint before ransacking their homes.

Investigators with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said they are not certain the robberies are related, but the descriptions of the assailants and the techniques used by them are similar, said Lt. Tom Pigott of the Antelope Valley station.

The robbers are described as average-sized men, 20 to 30 years old, who wore black ski masks. All the robberies have taken place at night.

Officials said the first robbery was committed by two men, while the others involved three assailants. None of the victims was seriously injured, Pigott said.

The first robbery occurred Oct. 17, when two men forced their way into an apartment on the west side of Lancaster, Pigott said. The other two robberies--on Oct. 21 and then Wednesday night--were within a few blocks of each other on the east side of the city.

The most recent was at the home of three men on Crestview Court. Two of them were home and watching television at the time, about 9:40 p.m., according to the third, who was not there at the time.

“They tied them up, held them at gunpoint for pretty much half an hour and went through everything in the house, basically,” said the man Thursday, adding that the victims were also hit on the head.

Deputies have not released the names of the victims. The third man also asked that his name not be printed.

The robbers took stereo equipment and several other items from the home and a 1986 Pontiac Trans Am from the garage, Pigott said.

Both victims were hospitalized with head injuries, but returned to work Thursday. The total value of the items was approximately $10,000, Pigott said.

The Oct. 21 robbery occurred only about a mile away. Curtis Blakely, 55, said he and his wife were asleep in their home on Renee Street when their 20-year-old son answered a knock at the door. Three men with handguns jumped him and then forced him upstairs to his parents’ bedroom.

“They just said, ‘Where’s the money?’ and ‘Do you have a safe?’ and all kinds of questions,” Blakely said.

The intruders forced the family members to lie on the floor and tied their hands, Blakely said, before taking about $3,800 worth of jewelry and cash. They left 10 or 15 minutes after entering, he said, when they heard a siren from a emergency vehicle responding to an auto accident.

Blakely’s son was able to untie his hands and, with his legs still bound, he climbed over a fence to get help from a neighbor, according to deputies.

During the first robbery, two men forced their way into an apartment on 16th Street West after the tenant answered the door, Pigott said. The robbers took about $50 before leaving the apartment without displaying weapons or tying up the victim.

Another robbery was in Quartz Hill Oct. 20, when a man with a knife ransacked the home of a 67-year-old stroke victim. Pigott said that incident does not appear to be related to the others.

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Pigott urged residents to take extra precautions.

“Don’t open your door unless you know who is on the other side, and don’t open it to strangers after dark,” he said.

Some residents near the homes most recently burglarized said they are considering buying a gun or guard dog.

“It’s starting to get me really scared because my husband is a charter driver and he’s not always home--it’s just me and my two daughters,” said a 47-year-old woman. A 25-year-old woman who lives on Crestview Court said the area has long been considered a safe haven.

“I’ve always considered this a safe neighborhood,” she said. “We sometimes leave our garage door open and nothing ever gets taken.”