Toddler used in home invasion robbery ruse, say Sacramento police

(CBS) SACRAMENTO - Police in Sacramento have arrested two women who were reportedly knocking on doors with a 2-year-old child in a plot to steal from homeowners, CBS Sacramento reported.

The first incident happened at about 4:30 p.m. Monday when the women knocked on a door and asked if the toddler could use the restroom. The two women opened the screen door and walked inside, brushing the homeowner to the side, police said. Then two men walked inside and started talking to the resident.

After the homeowner called for her son the suspects left, but she noticed money was missing from her purse, according to CBS Sacramento.

While officers were investigating, dispatch broadcast another similar call where two women and two men knocked on another door using a different approach, but also using the child as a decoy. That resident did not open the door and had a friend call police.

"You have to be so alert, not suspicious of everybody, but be alert," said Lydia Brummeier, whose friend alerted police. "That was very unusual," she told the station.

Officers responded and later found a suspect vehicle. The two women with the 2-year-old child were detained and positively identified as the perpetrators of the home invasion.

They were arrested and booked into the county jail. The two male suspects were still at large as of Tuesday morning.