Two Md. home invasions linked to suspect who assaulted woman in one incident A robbery about 7 p.m. Wednesday on Western and Chevy Chase Circle follows that pattern, authorities said. Samantha Nolan of the Chevy Chase neighborhood in the District said the brazenness of the robberies is "very disconcerting." Doing three stickups within minutes and then returning to the same neighborhood is "very bold" and suggests that the robbers don't have much fear, she said. The robberies come as a housekeeper was sexually assaulted and a mother and teenage son were tied up during a home invasion in Bethesda Wednesday morning. Montgomery County police say the incident involves the same man who committed a Tuesday home invasion in Wheaton. Police linked those incidents Wednesday afternoon, but say they are unrelated to the robberies. Before Wednesday night, the most recent related robbery occurred on Tuesday about 9:20 p.m., when a woman walking in the 4100 block of Livingston Street NW was robbed at gunpoint of her purse and cellphone, D.C. police said. The woman told police she noticed a man hiding in the tree line on the south side of the street. When she tried to cross to avoid him, she told police, the suspect ran to her and robbed her. The robberies are not like the crimes that targeted iPhones and cellphones last year, police said. The suspects in the recent events usually show guns and have taken purses, briefcases and wallets, police said, "We can't say definitely these are all the same suspects because no one has been caught, but there are enough similarities that we are looking on them as linked," said Cmdr. George Kucik, head of the D.C. police criminal investigations division. Capt. David Falcinelli, commander of the Bethesda district for Montgomery County, said two robberies on Nov. 22 and Dec. 26 near the Bethesda border with the District also are believed to be part of the pattern. Police are looking at links with at least three other robberies. The Livingston Street robbery comes after three similar stickups within 30 minutes of one another early Sunday evening in Cleveland Park and Friendship Heights. D.C. police say theythink another four since Dec. 10 also share similar characteristics. The robbers generally have hit between 6 and 11 p.m, police said. They have usually approached people who are walking alone or getting out of their cars. But there have been incidents in which two people were robbed together. Victims often have been taken by surprise and sometimes were approached from behind, making descriptions of suspects difficult. "This probably doesn't take more than 30 seconds," Kucik said.