Armed robbers broke into two Havre de Grace residences early yesterday, awakening and terrorizing the occupants to obtain money, authorities said.

The first of the two incidents, which police believe were carried out by the same men, began about 2:30 a.m. when Havre de Grace police responded to a breaking and entering report on Chesapeake Drive.

"I can't recall any incidents with a similar MO [method of operation]," Lt. John Van Gilder of the Havre de Grace Police Department said yesterday.

A woman told police that three men with a rifle had broken in the rear door of her waterfront home on Chesapeake Drive and demanded money. After she gave the men an undisclosed amount, they left.

At 4 a.m., police were summoned to an apartment on Commerce Street where a woman resident said four men with at least one handgun had broken in.

The men tied up the woman's boyfriend, and two of the robbers stayed with him while the other two forced the woman to drive to a bank.

Once at the bank, Lieutenant Van Gilder said, the men forced the woman to use her automated teller machine card to withdraw money.

The men then took her back to the apartment, which they ransacked, stealing a handgun and other items. They fled taking the boyfriend's Corvette.

The car soon was found parked on Camilla Street, about one mile from the crime scenes and one block from U.S. 40, Lieutenant Van Gilder said.

Police searched the area, using a Maryland State Police helicopter and K-9 units from the Harford County Sheriff's Office.

Also, sheriff's deputies checked the crime scenes, seeking evidence that would provide clues to the identities of the four men.

The police dogs tracked the bandits to an area near a motel in the 900 block of U.S. 40.

A rifle was recovered in the search, but Lieutenant Van Gilder could not say if it was the weapon used in the Chesapeake Drive robbery.