Assailants Enter U.S. Diplomat’s House

Three assailants entered the home of a U.S. Embassy employee in the western San José suburb of Escazú yesterday, tying up the diplomat’s wife and stealing items worth $10,000, according to police.

Public Security Ministry spokeswoman Karla Arrieta said the robbery took place around noon in the neighborhood of Trejos Montealegre. Francisco Ruíz, of the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ), said the thieves tied up the official’s wife and made off with jewels and a computer; Arrieta added that cash and documents were also stolen. The victim escaped shortly after the assailants fled and alerted authorities, according to Ruíz. She was not injured.

“It appears that (the thieves) had studied the house… it had all kinds of security,” Ruiz said.

The Tico Times is withholding the name of the diplomat at the embassy’s request. “If the name is published, we’re worried about a possible negative repercussion,” spokeswoman Evelyn Ardon told The Tico Times, adding that the official is neither U.S. Ambassador Mark Langdale – who lives at the Ambassador’s Residence, also in Escazú – nor one of the embassy’s section chiefs, but holds a lower post.