A Hayward family says they're now pleading with police for help after they say half a dozen thieves schemed their way into their home. They also made off with $100,000 in cash and jewelry.
Hayward resident Anisha told NBC Bay Area Wednesday that she was in her bedroom alone in her family's home on Labor Day when she says she started hearing unfamiliar voices.
When she went to check it out, she found two women dressed in shawls and speaking in a foreign language inside her home.
“And I was like: 'you guys need to leave' and they said 'no, we need help.' Kind of pleading, the one woman, she was trying to cry and I was like 'no, you need to go,'” she said.
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When she led them to the door, Anisha says she found three more women and a man just outside, asking for help.
Security footage does not capture the encounter. But one video shows one of the women coming up to the house. While a second video shows a man standing at a nearby car.
Anisha said that she was briefly distracted by their pleas for help, before she spotted one member of the group coming back out of her home with a bag full of her family's cash and valuables.
Anisha says the women pushed her to the ground and took off. Security footage-captured Anisha screaming as the suspects drove away.
A nearby neighbor witnessed the aftermath.
The family says the group took $100,000 in personal belongings including gold jewelry and tens of thousands in cash hidden in a bedroom. It's money the family says was going to be used for retirement and a college fund.
The family thinks the group had been watching them for a while.
Despite filling a report, Anisha says they haven’t gotten much help from the police. On Wednesday, they went to the department looking for answers.
Hayward police say they are investigating and trying to figure out if any similar crimes have happened in neighboring communities.
While the family waits to hear back from police, nearby residents told NBC Bay Area that they are organizing a neighborhood watch to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
