Gold Thieves Strike Again

FAIRFAX, Va. (WUSA) -- A terrible stroke of irony in Fairfax County as police try to step up their efforts to crack down on a string of break-ins targeting Indian Americans.

9NEWS NOW talked exclusively with victims from a rash of break-ins Thursday night.  Thieves struck three homes in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties.  A family 9NEWS NOW talked with says they were heading to a meeting about crimes targeting their community when they became victims themselves.

Crime scene investigators dusted for fingerprints late into the evening Thursday night.

The Vallabhaneni family were shocked when they came home.  Becoming a victims was far from their thoughts.

Manasa Vallabhaneni says, "My heart stopped beating. It's unimaginable someone would do something like this to us."

They had plans to attend Thursday's town hall meeting just 7 miles down the road in Centreville. The police chief was holding a packed town hall meeting trying to calm a community on edge, while detectives searched for clues at the Vallabhaneni home. They weren't the only victims, 9NEWS NOW also watched as police gathered evidence at Chantilly home Thursday evening.  It's where they say the same group of thieves struck.

Over the summer many Indian Americans took down their traditional ornaments and garlands to not give the crooks any signs of who may live there after hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gold was stolen.

Some families are getting the message to store their gold jewelry in banks. And that's exactly what happened in these most recent cases.

The Vallabhaneni family was worried about the rash of break-ins and took their gold to the bank only a few days ago. 

Vallabhaneni says, "My mom says it was by God's grace that we weren't home and our gold was not here."

While the victims are becoming more savvy some fear the crooks methods may change if they don't get what they want. They fear it could escalate to violence.

Fairfax County Police Chief David Rohrer says, "It's a concern, I'm hoping it won't escalate." 

The thieves did get away with some but not the loot of gold they were hoping for.

The suspects are described as two hispanic or middle eastern men in their 20s or 30's and one hispanic woman.  The descriptions may be very vague but after a year of these types of burglaries going on that's all authorities have to go on right now.

Nearly 300 concerned people and victims attended the town hall meeting in Centreville.

Police say there are more than 30 homes have been burglarized, seven of them happened this week.  The Indian community says the number is much higher than that.