Police say suspect charged with arson, burglary, vandalism hit same home twice in three days

A 32-year-old transient from Fremont has been charged by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office with crimes in a pair of incidents, Fremont police said.

Hector Molina was booked into Santa Rita Jail on Thursday on charges that include burglary and arson at a residence on Wednesday, and a vandalism involving the same victim on May 17.

Both incidents at a home in Fremont’s Brookvale neighborhood were recorded on surveillance video.

On Wednesday, a resident of the home returned and was told by her grandmother about noises heard in the attached garage around noon. The resident discovered a side entrance to the garage had been kicked open and a box that had been set on fire inside. The box had stopped burning before the fire could spread, however, police said.

The home’s surveillance system showed a man walking toward the garage door shortly before noon and later leaving on a bicycle.

The home had been vandalized on May 17, and the resident told police she believed that subject in video from that incident, showing the front door being hit with a hatchet and a window being broken, looked the same as the person seen coming and going from the garage.

Fremont detectives determined that Molina was the same person in both videos, each time wearing the same clothing and arriving at and leaving the scene on a bicycle.

Officers following up on another arson call Thursday found Molina in the area and arrested him on a warrant in an unrelated case.

Police are investigating links between the incidents and ask anyone with information to contact Detective T. MacDonald at Tmacdonald@fremont.gov or (510) 790-6900.