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Denise Huskins, 29, of Vallejo, Calif.(Photo: Vallejo (Calif.) Police Department)
SACRAMENTO — Federal prosecutors are accusing a disbarred, Harvard-trained lawyer of orchestrating a hoax kidnapping earlier this year in an attempt to extort ransom money, according to FBI documents released Monday.
Now officials are looking for other potential victims of the suspect, Matthew Muller, 38, of the Sacramento suburb of Orangevale, Calif. He was arrested June 8, three days after a Dublin, Calif., home-invasion robbery that had similarities to the kidnapping; he was charged in connection with a March case June 29, the FBI said.
On March 23, Aaron Quinn, 30, called Vallejo, Calif., police saying someone had broken in during the night; drugged him and his girlfriend, Denise Huskins, 29; used his car to take Huskins; and demanded $8,500 ransom. Dozens of officers searched areas around Northern California for Huskins.
She was found two days later after reportedly calling her father, saying "they" had dropped her off a few hours before a ransom was due.
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At one point, Vallejo police cast doubt on the incident and questioned whether enough evidence existed to classify the crime as a kidnapping.
"When you hear all this stuff, when it all gets revealed, your jaw will drop," Mike Huskins, Denise Huskins' father, said Monday morning before the records were unsealed. "It was obvious she wasn't a part of this thing or any foul play."
In an afternoon news conference in Vallejo, lawyers for Quinn and Denise Huskins said Vallejo police rushed to judgment and they want public perception of their clients changed. Lawyer Douglas Rappaport is representing Huskins and said she'll avoid commenting on the case to preserve the integrity of the prosecution.
The couple held hands and hugged at the end of the news conference. Quinn's girlfriend had tears in her eyes.
A call to Vallejo police was not immediately returned.
Muller was linked to the Dublin crime when a cellphone was left at the scene following a scuffle with residents awakened by a flashlight shining in their eyes at about 3:30 a.m. PT in their bedroom. The suspect fled when a female victim locked herself in the bathroom with her cellphone and called 911.
Afterward, police discovered another cellphone inside the Dublin home, called 911 on it, were able to discern its phone number and obtained a search warrant to require the cellphone provider to release information about its customer. Detectives ended up finding Muller's mother, who told them that the phone belonged to her son.
She also told them that her son was living at a home in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., where officers arrested him. As authorities began to unravel the Dublin case and gather evidence, various departments began to see similarities to the Vallejo abduction, the FBI said.
In the Vallejo case, an intruder woke up Denise Huskins and Quinn at about 2 a.m. by shining a bright light in their eyes, and the man had her bind her boyfriend's hands with zip ties, according to the FBI release. The intruder then put swim goggles on Quinn's eyes, with tape over the lenses, and put headphones on his ears as he placed him in the closet.
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Police: Kidnapping appears to be 'orchestrated event'
The headphones reportedly played a pre-recorded message indicating "that the break in was being performed by a professional group on site to collect financial debts", then threatened physical violence to both if they did not comply, according to federal investigators. The recording referred to Quinn and another woman, not Denise Huskins.
At one point, the intruder asked Quinn if Denise Huskins looked like the woman named in the recording. Quinn said that they both had similar hair, but the woman named in the recording was his ex-girlfriend and moved out months ago.
Matthew Muller, 38, of Orangevale, Calif.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Dublin (Calif.) Police Department)
The main intruder then reportedly chatted with another suspect who had accompanied him.
Then the intruder asked for financial account numbers and passwords, Wi-Fi information and other Internet accounts. Quinn was placed on the couch, where he was told he was being watched on camera and shouldn't try to free himself.
He reportedly asked for a blanket, and the intruder responded he didn't know how cold it was because he was wearing a wet suit. At that point, Quinn passed out and woke up hours later, investigators said.
When Quinn was able to break free, he said he called police.
Quinn's and Denise Huskins' cellphones were left behind with a ransom message.
After Denise Huskins was reunited with her family, she told investigators that the suspects sexually assaulted her multiple times. At one point, one of the suspects told her that people overseeing the kidnapping were making him assault her and that Quinn's ex-girlfriend was the intended target.
While USA TODAY and KXTV-TV don't usually publish the names of sexual-assault victims, Huskins' name was widely circulated when police were attempting to find her after what was thought of as an abduction.
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FBI agents have said they found no evidence of sex that was not consensual.
When the suspects considered her of no further financial use, one of them dropped her off in Huntington Beach, Calif., more than 400 miles away, she told investigators.
“When you hear all this stuff, when it all gets revealed, your jaw will drop. ”
Mike Huskins, Denise Huskins' father
As she turned around after her abductor drove away, she saw that she was at her mother's house, according to the FBI affidavit.
On Monday, Muller was in custody on charges of attempted first-degree residential robbery and assault in Alameda County, where the home-invasion robbery occurred. A call seeking comment from his lawyer, Thomas Johnson, was not immediately returned.
Muller told investigators he served as a Marine from 1995 to 1999 and attended and taught at Harvard University after that, the FBI affidavit said. He said he suffered from psychosis and in 2008 was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Muller was admitted to practice law in California in May 2011. His state bar profile also shows he attended Harvard Law School.
Muller's license was suspended in 2013 for failing to pay annual dues, records show. Later that year, the state bar filed disciplinary charges against Muller, citing his failure to file a green card application for a client's son. The bar notice states Muller took $1,250 in advance money from the client.
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Muller failed to cooperate with the bar's investigation, leading the State Bar Court to recommend his disbarment in January. The state Supreme Court ordered him disbarred in June.
Wilson Purves, a partner with the Kerosky, Purves & Bogue in San Francisco, said Muller worked as an associate at the immigration law firm for a year before it terminated his employment in 2012. Purves declined to discuss the termination but said nothing stood out about Muller.
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Search narrows for woman possibly kidnapped for ransom
"Nothing extraordinary would make me feel that he could be accused of something like this," he said. "I don't know what happened between then and now."
No additional arrests were revealed Monday, and the investigation into the Vallejo case and other potential kidnappings is continuing, the FBI said.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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