Matthew Muller pleads guilty in infamous Vallejo kidnapping case ByEvan Sernoffsky Updated 1:50 pm, Thursday, September 29, 2016 4 Photo: Uncredited, Associated Press IMAGE1OF45 Booking photo released by the Dublin, Calif., Police Department, shows Matthew Muller after he was arrested on robbery and assault charges stemming from a home invasion. Muller plead guilty Thursday in a high-profile kidnapping-for-ransom case that occurred in Mach 2015 in Vallejo.Matthew Muller, 39, pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping in the March 2015 home invasion, in which he drugged victim Aaron Quinn and disappeared with 30-year-oldDenise Huskins, a crime Vallejo police initially dismissed as a hoax. Muller agreed to “take responsibility” for the crime, as part of a plea deal with prosecutors, his attorney,Tom Johnsonsaid Thursday. In exchange for the guilty plea, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will not recommend Muller be sentenced to a prison term longer than 40 years. “Muller committed a serious and violent crime that terrorized the victims in this case,” said Acting U.S. AttorneyPhillip A. Talbert. “He violated the sanctity of their home and caused fear and panic for all those affected by the kidnapping.” The prosecutors’ sentencing recommendation, though, is only one factor U.S. District Court JudgeTroy Nunleywill consider when handing down punishment during a hearing scheduled for Jan. 19. Nunley will also consider federal sentencing guidelines, a presentencing report from the federal probation department and impact statements from the victims. Huskins and Quinn will speak during the sentencing hearing, family members said. “We’re trying so hard to get Mr. Muller out one day,” Johnson said. “We hope this is a good agreement.” The guilty plea brought some relief to family members of one of the victims. “I feel pretty good about the agreement,” Quinn’s mother,Marianne Quinn, said outside court. “Muller is a dangerous guy, and Aaron and Denise are relieved they won’t have to testify.” Marianne Quinn, though, expressed frustration toward the authorities who investigated the case and at one point accused her son and Huskins of fabricating the entire episode. “There won’t be real justice until the people who botched this whole thing are held accountable,” she said. Huskins and Aaron Quinn have filed a federal civil lawsuit against the city of Vallejo and its police department for civil right’s violations. Thursday’s guilty plea will pave the way for that case to move forward. The kidnapping happened in the early-morning hours of March 23, 2015, when Muller broke into Quinn’s home, drugged him and took off with Huskins. Detectives first suspected Aaron Quinn in the disappearance, but a day after the kidnapping, The Chronicle received a “proof of life” statement from Huskins. She later showed up at the home of one of her parents in Huntington Beach (Orange County), where she told police she was sexually assaulted by her abductor before being released. But Vallejo police detectives publicly dismissed the account as bogus. “Given the facts that have been presented thus far, this event appears to be an orchestrated event and not a kidnapping,” Vallejo police Lt. Kenny Park said at the time in front of a bank of national television cameras. Soon after, The Chronicle began receiving emails from a person claiming to be the kidnapper. The writer said he was part of a group of “Ocean’s Eleven, gentlemen criminals,” who ran an auto-theft ring on Mare Island. In June 2015, Muller was captured after he left his cell phone behind at a home invasion in Dublin. Authorities used the phone to track Muller to his parents’ vacation home in South Lake Tahoe, where police uncovered evidence linking him to the Vallejo kidnapping. He pleaded no contest to the Dublin crime in September 2015 in Alameda Superior Court, and still awaits sentencing. http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Matthew-Muller-pleads-guilty-in-infamous-Vallejo-9448838.php Harvard-educated attorney pleads guilty in bizarre Vallejo kidnapping http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/...a-vallejo-kidnapping-20160928-snap-story.html