CROWN POINT, Ind. -- A Griffith man is being held on $100,000 bail after authorities said he posed as a police officer to gain entry into a Cedar Lake home, handcuffed the woman who answered the door and pulled a gun on her.

Timothy Roy Sweitzer, 31, of the 1000 block of North Harvey Street, a convicted thief and burglar, was charged in Lake Superior Court on Thursday with attempted robbery, confinement, carrying a handgun without a permit and impersonating a public servant.

A woman told police she answered a knock at the door of her home on West 136th Avenue on Tuesday morning when a man later identified as Sweitzer flashed a badge at her and said he wanted to ask her some questions. The woman said she let Sweitzer inside, and he grabbed her by the arm and handcuffed her hands behind her back. She said she became hysterical, and Sweitzer pulled out a handgun and told her, "Let's go to the bedroom," court records state.

The woman said she resisted as Sweitzer was pulling her up the stairs. She said the robber ran upstairs ahead of her, so she opened the door and went outside. In the driveway the woman found a man sitting in a car. When he noticed her, he backed out of the driveway and drove away. A neighbor called police for her.

Police found a safe that had been in an upstairs bedroom near the front door.

Witnesses directed police to wooded property north of TJT Tire Co., near 133rd Avenue and Fairbanks Street. Police said they found Sweitzer hiding behind a bush, as well as a .380-caliber pistol, pair of brown gloves, partial roll of duct tape and nylon case containing an aerosol can with what resembled pepper spray in the area around him.

Police said they also found a cylindrical metal tube called an asp, a gold badge for a sergeant with the Conrail police inside a leather identification folder and a piece of paper with Sweitzer's name and the words "police" and "sheriff" on it.

In a statement, Sweitzer said he thought there was a large quantity of marijuana in the home and went there to steal the drugs and cash. He told police he stole his mother's badge and made the ID and that he purchased the gun from a heroin dealer in Illinois.

A conviction could carry a maximum 20-year sentence.

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