An 87-year-old man known for loaning cash to his elderly neighbors was bound and gagged by a trio of bandits demanding the money he kept in his humble South Bronx apartment.  “It was very traumatizing,” Francisco Perez told the Daily News Wednesday, in Spanish. “They took my home attendant to the bathroom and tied her up in the bathtub. They threatened my life.”  His terrifying ordeal came the same day a mugger targeted another Bronx senior, and amid a recent uptick in crimes against the elderly.  The victim, who doles out loans with interest to his neighbors, kept $10,000 cash in his apartment, police sources said.  Man in custody after attacking city bus driver on Upper East Side  Perez and his son believe the three crooks knew that when they forced their way into his home on Elton Ave. near E. 157th St. at 9:50 a.m. Tuesday and threatened him at knifepoint.  One of the bandits was carrying a box, and told the victim they had a delivery, but when Perez opened the door, he saw the trio wearing ski masks.  They bound his 24-year-old home care attendant’s hands with a shirt, and forced the man onto a couch, demanding the cash.  “One of them had a knife. He kept asking me, ‘Where was the money?’ If I didn't talk he said he would hurt me,” Perez recalled. “I didn't say anything. I just stood quiet as if they weren't saying anything. I told them, ‘There isn't any more. You took everything.’”  Thief robs Bronx Chinese restaurant at gunpoint  “Then they put something in my mouth,” he said.  After ransacking the place, they found the cash and took off, police said.  His appalled son, Jose Perez, 48, wants to find a city agency to help his father get a new place to live.  “I want to help him move out of here. This is not safe for him here,” he said.  Four inmates escape from Tennessee work house; 2 still on the lam  During the commotion, elder Perez fell to the ground, he recalled.  “I fell on my back and I couldn't get up. One of them extended his hand to help me get up,” Perez said with a laugh. “I guess they weren't that bad.”  Later that day and about three miles away, a female attacker shoved a 73-year-old woman to the ground on St. Lawrence Ave. near Mansion St. in Van Nest. The victim sprang back up from the 7:30 p.m. attack and ran towards her brother’s home up the block, but the thief and a male accomplice caught up to her.  The robber grabbed the victim’s bag and ran off.  The victim hurt her wrist but did not need medical attention, cops said.  There have been no arrests in either incident.  Through Sunday, 5,921 seniors have fallen victim to a major crime this year, compared to 5,709 during the same period last year, a 4% increase. Meanwhile, the overall crime rate for all victims is down 4%.  Some 1,158 seniors have been assaulted this year through Sunday, compared to 997 during the same period last year, a 16% spike. And 3,262 have been the victim of grand larcenies, up 8% from the 3,3031 victims last year.  Eleven seniors have been murdered so far this year, the same number as during the same period last year.
The home invasion victim was attacked inside his Elton Ave. home after he opened his front door and three robbers burst inside.