BANDITS BREAK INTO HOME, TIE UP FOUR OCCUPANTS.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Daily News Staff Writer

Three masked men claiming to be police officers broke down the front door of a Moorpark home Sunday night, tying up a woman and three teen-agers at gunpoint, then stealing musical equipment that had been advertised for sale.

The four victims were able to untie themselves and call police after the intruders had left.

The incident is the second home-invasion robbery this year in the small city, but officials said the two are unrelated and maintained that the city has the lowest per capita crime rate in the county.

``It was two this year, that was scary for us,'' said Moorpark police spokesman Kory Martinelli. ``They're very, very uncommon.''

Police said at 11 p.m., three men wearing dark ski masks and black clothing yelled out that they were police officers before knocking down the front door of the home in the 134000 block of Canyonwood Court.

The trio, all armed with handguns, ordered the occupants to the ground, then tied up the woman and three teen-agers with duct tape and carried them into another room.

The men then stole an undisclosed amount of cash and musical equipment used for sound mixing that had been advertised for sale over the weekend. A witness told police a small, white utility-type truck was spotted at the scene.

Police believe the robbers might have targeted the home after seeing an advertisement for the expensive musical equipment. The victims had received a phone call earlier asking for information about the equipment and directions to the home.

``We think that the guys that came saw the ad,'' Martinelli said. ``They came prepared.''

Police said the incident was rare for Moorpark, where residents boast a low crime rate that is not as well known as the safest-city ranking given to neighboring Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley.

Those two cities routinely swap the nation's safest city honor, according to annual Department of Justice crime statistics, which tally crimes in cities with populations of 100,000 or more.

With 30,000 residents, Moorpark doesn't make that list, Martinelli said, but the city still has fewer crimes per capita than any other city in Ventura County.

During 1997 the city had no homicides, four rapes, 10 robberies and 30 aggravated assaults. The rate for violent crimes was 1.51 per 1,000 residents, he said.

``We will be lower per 1,000 (residents) than any other city in the county,'' he said. ``We're safer than both of those cities (Thousand Oaks and Simi) - not to brag, but it's nice to know.''

Police said it was unclear whether the three teen-age victims - a male and two females - were all residents of the home. They suffered minor injuries, police said.

Earlier this year, police caught three home invasion suspects in the act in the Mountain Meadows area after one of the victims escaped and notified neighbors, who called police.