Police investigate link between Dublin, Fremont home invasions

DUBLIN, Calif. (KGO) -- Dublin police are investigating a brazen home invasion that happened Sunday. Four masked men, two of them armed, reportedly followed a woman and her three children into their home through a garage.

RELATED: Dublin police searching for 4 armed home invasion robbery suspects

Multiple law enforcement agencies are comparing notes and the possibility that the men have struck elsewhere.

An investigator on this case remembered hearing about a similar crime in Fremont on the news a couple of weeks ago.

As law enforcement talks about the possibility of a connection between crimes elsewhere, some are wondering if there's any connection to a well-publicized home invasion that happened on this street last year.

Investigators with the Dublin Police Services say they believe the getaway vehicle was a white Infinity FX35 with paper plates on it.

Four masked men followed the woman and her children through the garage Sunday night.

Lt. Victor Fox says the men were calm, organized, methodical and even polite to the victims. "It's unusual and it's troubling because they are going in with numbers and they are armed," he said.

One of the suspects watched the victims while the others ransacked the home, getting away with high-end handbags and a small amount of cash.

"It's scary because if they can do that to them, they can do that to anybody," neighbor Devinder Pabla said.

"We are looking to similar incidents that have happened in the area," Fox said.

Fremont police released surveillance video to the media last week, where you can see masked men creeping through a home. One exposed his face.

The residents weren't home at the time. Lt. Fox says a Dublin Police Services investigator remembered the story.

"We watch the news too," he said. "Sunday night's home invasion isn't the first on North Terracina Drive to make the news."

Matthew Muller pleaded no contest to a home invasion that happened here in June of 2015.

When Muller left his cellphone behind, investigators linked him to the Vallejo kidnapping of Denise Huskins, which Vallejo police had previously called a hoax.

In an alleged manifesto, Muller wrote that he said he acted with "a group of professional thieves, more than two and fewer than eight."

Attorney Jim Wagstaffe represents Huskins and Aaron Quinn. "You never know whether grandiosity is just grandiosity or whether it's revelation. In this case, we don't know whether it's true. My clients just want and have always wanted a full investigation," he said.

Fox says investigators, including the ones who worked the Dublin home invasion last year, do not believe there's a connection.

"It hasn't been written off but it's been discussed and it's not something that we're looking into right now," he said.

As law enforcement agencies from multiple cities compare notes, residents remain on edge.