Tonight, a family from Hattieville Village continues to recover from the trauma of a home invasion in which they were tied up and robbed at gunpoint. Early indications to investigators are that they were targeted by Hilux pickup thieves who were attempting to fence their pricey vehicle across the western border on Guatemala.
According to Police, Theodore Gabourel, a security guard who works at the Cleopatra White Clinic, reported that at around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday, he and his family were awakened by someone who was shouting "Police" at their front door. He opened up, and that's when he came face to face with a man in a camouflage outfit who pointed a shotgun at him.
2 other accomplices barged into the family's home, tied up Gabourel, his common-law wife, Lauramay Bowen, and her grandchild. They stole an undisclosed amount of cash, and Lauramay's grey Toyota Hilux. Fortunately, police were on high alert, and so when a vehicle matching the description of the stolen pickup truck showed up in Bullet Tree Village, in the Cayo District, officers quickly pulled them over. Here are more details from the police:
ASP Fitzroy Yearwood, Communications Director, Belize Police Department
"Hattieville Police got a report from Mr. Theodore Gabourel sometime around 4:30 on the 27th February, where he explained that he was at home along with his common-law-wife and a child, a female minor, when he heard someone shouting police several times. When he got up and open his door it was into the nozzle of a shotgun. This person was dressed in a camouflage jacket, then 2 other male persons entered the house and they bounded Mr. Gabourel, his common-law and the child and proceeded to search the house. They made off with an undisclosed amount of cash and a grey Toyota Hilux pickup."
"I know that all checkpoints were alerted countrywide and the checkpoint at Bullet Tree Falls stopped a Toyota pickup fitting the description of the one that was stolen from that aggravated burglary. When the vehicle was searched, the VIN number was a match and the two persons on board were both men from Bullet Tree. One was Charlie Martinez, thirty-four years and Angel Mayen, twenty-three years. Both men have since been detained by San Ignacio police and both efforts from San Ignacio and Hattieville as to the charges that will be levied against them. One, we know that they were a stolen vehicle that was as a result of another crime in Hattieville. So the least we are looking at for them is handing stolen goods and theft and we are hoping to get more to charge them for the aggravated burglary itself."
Police say that they are very pleased to have protected this family's vehicle from being sold across the border. They are trying to connect the occupants of the vehicle to the aggravated burglary at their Hattieville home.
