Gunman invades home in Gloucester County
The robber fled with $40,000 after a "targeted" attack, police said.
An armed robber invaded the Gloucester County home of a Philadelphia nightclub owner yesterday morning and escaped with tens of thousands of dollars, police said.
The family was "upset and shaken," but otherwise unhurt, police said.
The masked robber, hiding in a family vehicle, confronted the victim's wife when she left early yesterday morning to take one of their sons to school.
He forced them back inside the home, on Samantha Court, a small subdivision of expensive homes in the Sewell section of Washington Township.
Police did not release the names of the family members but said they were not random victims.
"It appears the family was targeted," said Deputy Chief John Dalesandro of the Washington Township police.
The homeowner, Frank Funaro, operates Fiso Lounge, a nightclub on South Street in Philadelphia, according to public records. He also operates a real estate company listed at the same address.
A neighbor, Diane Marotta, said the family had left the home in the care of relatives yesterday afternoon. A man at the door of the house ordered reporters off the property.
The home invasion began about 7 a.m., when Funaro's wife attempted to drive one of their sons to school. The robber, dressed in black and wearing a ski mask, was hiding in the backseat, the family told police.
Brandishing a chrome semiautomatic handgun, the man forced them back into the house. The family said they gave the man about $40,000.
Police received a 911 hang-up call from the home around 7:45 a.m. Funaro answered the door when officers arrived and told them that everything was fine.
The officers persisted, asking to speak with other family members, Dalesandro said. The wife and children then appeared, signaling they were fine as well.
At that time, the armed robber was hiding in a closet, the family later told police.
Minutes after the officers left, dispatchers received another 911 call from the home.
"When they returned they found the family visibly upset and shaken," Dalesandro said.
After the officers departed for the first time, the gunman fled in a blue minivan. No license-plate number was available.
"I give the father credit for keeping his cool, just saying, 'Take the money,' " Marotta said. "It angers me that people do this and traumatize a child just out of greed."
She said the couple has four boys, all under the age of 12. She described Marotta's wife as a "super-mom."
"You put yourself in her shoes," she said. "Can you imagine - you go out to take your kid to school and someone puts a gun to your head?"
Funaro's home is less than a half-mile from a Saddlebrook Drive house that was invaded in 2006 by four men in ski masks. The robbers tied up three children and beat their father, Juan Cuevas, to death. Cuevas owned an auto-parts store in Philadelphia.
Anyone with information on yesterday's home invasion is asked to call Washington Township police at 856-589-0330.