WASHINGTON — Montgomery County police officers have arrested two people and charged them with a recent home invasion robbery in Bethesda.
In a news release, police announced the arrest of Robert Christopher Hartley and Ioanis Gourgoulianos.
Hartley, 30, is from Bel Air, Maryland.
Gourgoulianos, 28, is from Fallston, Maryland.
At roughly 5:30 p.m., Feb. 16, an 85-year-old couple was in their home basement, in Bethesda, when they heard a loud crash. They went upstairs and saw two men breaking in through a glass back door.
The men wore dark clothes and ski masks. One man carried a baseball bat and the other carried a small, blunt object. The men ordered the couple to sit on the couch in the living room and put their hands up. The couple was told not to look at the men.
“We are not going to hurt you,” said one of the men, according to a news release. “We respect you. It’s just that the economy that sucks.”
In less than 10 minutes, the men took roughly $10,000 in cash and rare silver coins. The couple called 911.
Apparently, the men knew where the cash was kept, according to a news release. Hartley was employed by a company that installed a new heating system in the couple’s home. According to police, he had been there several times to install the system. The day of the robbery, police said, Gourgoulianos came to the couple’s front door pretending to be a salesman.
When questioned, police say Hartley confessed to the crime. Gourgoulianos was arrested the next day.
