Sheriff Margaret Mims announced a task force Friday to crack these unsolved cases. Her investigators have already noticed some similarities that could help catch the suspects who shot the man who talked to Action News Friday.
Bullet holes in the windows, in the wall, and in a chair surround Erasmo Moya when he sits in his living room. The farm labor contractor also has a hole in his leg, where one of three home invaders shot him when he stood up from his couch. He'll be on a walker for at least a month. "They shot me over here and I think (my leg) broke right away because when the guy shot me, I didn't feel anything," he said.
The men broke into Moya's home just after his oldest son left the house Sunday. They threatened to shoot again if he didn't show them where to find money. "Oh yes I was scared," he said. "I tell them please don't shoot me. Take whatever you want. Don't kill me. And my wife's telling them too."
The suspects left with just a little money and some electronics. Three days after the attack on Moya, and less than a mile from his home, three men broke into another house and tied up a woman inside. Three or four men also tied up a Parlier woman in a home invasion last week, just after two family members left for work.
"They appear to be pre-planned, organized," said Sheriff Mims as she announced a home invasion task force Friday.
Mims says the crime spree may date back to April and involves several attacks on farm homes or farm workers. That's why investigators believe the suspects may work in the agriculture industry.
Three men left Jim Bos with a welt on his head after a home invasion at his dairy in July. The sheriff says the suspects see farms like his as easy targets. "They're violent criminals and they're preying on people who live in rural areas because they know there's not a lot of witnesses," she said.
Moya says he'll be investing in a surveillance camera and at least one gun after his run-in with the suspects.
