When Nahid Alikhani and her sons came home on March 18, they found the front door jammed, muddy footprints throughout the house, their mail strewn about, doors ajar and all of their electronic devices missing.

Fearing a burglary, they called 9-1-1.

“The police said, ‘Actually it was us,’” said Alikhani.

That’s when they noticed the search warrant that had been left. It was for their Markham address, but none of their names were listed. Then Alikhani spotted a name she did recognize — the son of the home’s previous owner.

Their story highlights difficulties surrounding police investigations, and obtaining search warrants while protecting personal privacy when the person police are looking for are no longer at the home being searched.

The Toronto police say the family was the victim of a sophisticated crime ring busted this week and that proper procedure was followed in lawfully entering the home.

The family sees it differently.

“They took every computer, laptop, tablet, everything,” said Alikhani’s husband, Ramin Rownaghi. His sons’ video game console, the Internet router, medications and credit cards were also missing.

He said it took hours to get police on the phone to explain the situation.

“Still, we are feeling the way they treated us is like a suspected criminal,” Rownaghi said. “At the end of the day they disrupt my work, they disrupt my family, they invaded my privacy.”

The family moved into the pristine luxury home where properties range upwards of $2 million in May 2013.

Sina Ghojehbiglou, 19, who previously lived in the home and has no connection to Rownaghi or his family, has been charged with possession of property obtained by crime and for the purpose of trafficking as part of what police allege was a stolen cellphone scam.

Four others were arrested after police allege they were receiving stolen cellphones from a Yonge St. business called Apple N Parts and then reselling them in the store and online.

Rownaghi said one of the explanations given by police was that the teen was still receiving mail to his home. Rownaghi and his wife had been leaving the bank bills in the box to return to sender.

Rownaghi said the bank even called his new phone number at the home, looking for the teen. He says he told them that family had moved.

“You’re a victim of that person not changing his address,” Rownaghi said he was told by police. “My question is, did you guys see him?”

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Det. Joseph Matys, a Toronto officer who was in charge of the cellphone scam bust, said the case is not as simplistic as it has been made out, noting it wasn’t just the mail that led police to the home.

“There’s a lot more evidence. We had a judicially authorized search warrant.”

Rownaghi says he would like to know what grounds police gave the judge to gain access to his home.

When police want to search anyone’s property for investigative reasons, they are required by law to first seek permission from a judge — except in very specific circumstances. Police get permission by providing evidence gathered during their investigation and the reasonable grounds they are relying on for the search.

The Supreme Court of Canada has acknowledged property searches of any kind are a “significant invasion of privacy” but that a balance must be struck with the ability to conduct “effective law enforcement.”

“The criminal purposely allowed various things to lead back to that old address,” Matys said. “(Rownaghi) is a victim.”

The detective said he could not estimate how often police search homes where the intended target is not actually there or no longer there.

It’s not clear if police will pay for any damages Rownaghi claims, which includes large wooden double doors. The detective said officers took before and after photos of the house.

Rownaghi said he had to go to the 14 Division station on Dovercourt Rd. to retrieve his belongings.

“Still I don’t know what is missing,” Rownaghi said.

He says they have since noticed chargers and certain plugs are unaccounted for and a desktop and laptop computer no longer work.