Woman dressed as postal worker invades home

SOUTHWEST PHILADELPHIA - December 23, 2008 - (WPVI) -- What a Southwest Philadelphia couple thought was a mail delivery turned out to be something very different.

A woman who appeared to be a postal worker was in fact setting up a home invasion.

It was a horrific afternoon for Gregory Burnside. Armed robbers invaded his 61st and Grey's Ave. home Tuesday afternoon and terrified him and his wife. He said a woman in her 30's wearing a postal worker's uniform lured him to open the front door.

"Everything looked official, very official, " Burnside said.

Suddenly, he says, the woman pulled out a high-powered handgun.

"She had a clipboard and all. The entire time she had a gun under the clipboard and I wasn't aware of it. But when I went to sign for the letter the clipboard came up and the gun went right directly in my mouth," said Burnside.

Burnside said three armed accomplices, all male, stormed through the front door, tying up him and and his wife, duct taping their mouths and covering their heads. The victims says they were terrorized for an hour by the invaders who ransacked the house demanding money and other valuables.

"They got my wallet, my money, my mortgage money, everything. They took everything," Burnside said.

"They took our phones, any electronic gifts, my mp3 player... They opened the gifts and they took what they wanted."

After the brazen bandits fled, Burnside said he and wife wiggled free from their restraints and called police. Burnside says the woman in the offical looking blue uniform was the leader of this pack of sinister armed thieves, using the postal delivery ruse to gain entrance.

"I don't wany anybody out there to be too afraid of postal workers, because this is the first one we've heard like this," said Capt. Ben Naish of the Philadelphia Police. "But, it doesn't mean it's going to be the last. We had this happen today, we're still investigating, but be aware that this kind of situation has happened.

The search for the home invasion suspects continues.

You can get the latest crime statistics from the Philadelphia Police by CLICKING HERE for the force's crime data mapping site.

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