desflood
06-18-2005, 11:11 AM
Chilling List Could Lead To Biggest Molest Case Ever
June 17, 2005
By KOMO Staff & News Services
A convicted child molester arrested in Everett may have committed sex crimes against thousands of victims, police said.
SAN JOSE, CALIF. - Chilling, handwritten lists of more than 36,000 suspected sex acts with boys has led investigators to what may be the most extensive case of child molestation in U.S. history.
The lists, written in loopy cursive on 1,360 pages in seven multicolored, spiral-bound notebooks, have names and apparent codes for various sex acts, according to San Jose police. They were found last month in the San Jose home of convicted child molester Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller, 63, who is now in jail on felony molestation charges involving two local 12-year-old boys.
"If any of these numbers are even close to accurate, then it is one of the most significant child molestation finds that we have ever encountered," said San Jose Police Lt. Scott Cornfield, who called the case "horrendous."
Headings for the grim logs include "Blond Boys," "Cute Boys," "Boys who say no," and boys by specific sex act, Cornfield said.
"I've never seen anything like this," said Sgt. Tom Sims, head of San Jose's child exploitation unit.
Lisa Thornburg, who moved into the neighborhood in March and lives two doors from Schwartzmiller, said she's been suspicious for months - ever since her 9- and 6-year-old sons came home with treats Schwartzmiller purchased for them from an ice cream truck.
"After that, I told them they could ride bikes past his house but couldn't go inside - ever," Thornburg said as her kids played with another neighborhood child in the front driveway.
"It's been frightening and fairly disgusting to find out what's going on," she added.
With Schwartzmiller safely behind bars - held without bail on one count of aggravated sexual assault on a child under 14 and six counts of lewd and lascivious conduct on a child under 14, with each count alleging multiple victims - police were trying to reconstruct his movements over the past 30 years.
A message left for Schwartzmiller's public defender, Irma Gallardo, was not returned Thursday.
Police have also arrested Schwartzmiller's roommate - another convicted child molester - in the home they shared in a middle-class San Jose subdivision. The beige stucco ranch is a 10-minute walk from at least two elementary schools.
The front door was plastered with eviction notices from the landlord, saying the pair had three days to pay $1,850 in monthly rent or face eviction. Half-closed blinds revealed a home office whose floor was littered with power cords, computer manuals, printers, manila envelopes and a bottle of tequila.
The list of names found in the police search of Schwartzmiller's bedroom were categorized according to the type of sex acts performed, the age of the victims and other codes whose meaning is unclear - such as an "F" or "X" at the end of the entry, according to Cornfield. Many of the entries did not include last names, and some appeared to be repeats, making police cautious about estimating how many people Schwartzmiller may have victimized.
"If one-tenth of these numbers are accurate, we're looking at hundreds of victims in a number of states. The reason we want to tell the world about this is because we believe he's been involved in child molestations in a number of countries," said Cornfield.
Schwartzmiller's roommate, Fred Everts, is also in jail after police arrested him last month. He was convicted in 1993 for sodomy and sex abuse in Multnomah County, Oregon, and spent four years in prison before violating parole and fleeing the state.
Everts also was charged with child molestation in San Jose, including one count involving one of Schwartzmiller's two alleged victims.
Police who raided the home seized several computers and a 6-foot-tall server, which is being analyzed by a forensic lab in Menlo Park. Cornfield, who is part of a special police unit specializing in Internet crimes against children, said police are trying to determine whether Schwartzmiller was operating a Web site or otherwise using his computers to lure victims.
Although police say Schwartzmiller appears to have spent much of the past 30 years in California, he has also been arrested on child molestation charges in New York, Idaho, Oregon, Arkansas and Washington. He has also lived in Nevada, Texas and Washington.
In 1984, the Idaho Supreme Court upheld a 1978 conviction for molesting two 14-year-old boys and characterized Schwartzmiller as a "repeat offender" who "uses his intelligence to take advantage of the weak and oppressed and those who are in need."
Schwartzmiller "frequents areas where young boys may be found, befriends boys with no father figure in the home, entices them from their homes, lowers their natural inhibitions through the use of drugs and alcohol, and commits sex acts upon them," the justices wrote.
He's also wanted in Oregon on felony sexual assault charges involving a minor. After serving prison time in Idaho for child molestation in the late 1970s, he lived in Brazil, and was extradited from there to Idaho again in the late 1980s, Cornfield said.
Schwartzmiller has used aliases including Dean Harmon and Dean Miller. He apparently gained the trust of victims and parents by working as a home renovation contractor, and it appears that he didn't register as required, so that his history as a sex offender did not appear in the "Megan's Law" databases in California or other states, they said.
Sgt. Tom Sims, a supervisor with the department's child exploitation division, expressed frustration that Schwartzmiller has been able to live out of jail for most of his life, despite multiple convictions in several states.
"There's not a lot parents or the public can do in way of Megan's Law if those people don't register," said Sims. "It's as shocking to me as to you. I've never seen anything like this."
San Jose police got involved after Schwartzmiller allegedly befriended at least two boys in San Jose with gifts, invited them to his house for video games and movies, and molested them.
Snohomish County Sheriff's deputies arrested Schwartzmiller May 23 in Everett, Wash. on $2 million in warrants from San Jose. He was extradited to San Jose June 7.
In Snohomish County, Schwartzmiller was charged in February 1997 with one count of first-degree child molestation, two counts of second-degree child molestation and one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes. He was acquitted later that year by a Snohomish County Superior Court jury.
According to Snohomish County court records, Schwartzmiller, who was 55 at the time, was accused of molesting two brothers, ages 13 and 9, during a four-month period in 1996. The boys described Schwartzmiller as a longtime family friend.
Lynda Pichler of Everett Thursday described Schwartzmiller to The Seattle Times as a longtime family friend who attended Snohomish High School with her parents. She said Schwartzmiller had spent the night at her home the day before his arrest in Everett.
When they were growing up, Pichler and her three brothers were spoiled by Schwartzmiller, she said. She said her own daughters think of him as a grandfather.
Whenever Schwartzmiller was in town "he would spend an afternoon at our house," said Pichler, 45. "He loved to spoil us kids."
In San Jose, Vince Nunez, another neighbor who watched as police searched the home recently, said he's seen Schwartzmiller and Everts working outside on old cars. A rusting, dark green Plymouth Fury sat in Schwartzmiller's oil-stained driveway, covered with a blue tarp held down with rocks.
"This is pretty devastating to the neighborhood," said Nunez, who moved in earlier this year with his three girls, ages 7 to 17. "We're keeping a pretty close eye on all the kids on the block now."
Police are asking victims or anyone with information about Schwartzmiller to call the San Jose Police Department's child exploitation division at 408-277-4102. People who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 408-947-STOP.
June 17, 2005
By KOMO Staff & News Services
A convicted child molester arrested in Everett may have committed sex crimes against thousands of victims, police said.
SAN JOSE, CALIF. - Chilling, handwritten lists of more than 36,000 suspected sex acts with boys has led investigators to what may be the most extensive case of child molestation in U.S. history.
The lists, written in loopy cursive on 1,360 pages in seven multicolored, spiral-bound notebooks, have names and apparent codes for various sex acts, according to San Jose police. They were found last month in the San Jose home of convicted child molester Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller, 63, who is now in jail on felony molestation charges involving two local 12-year-old boys.
"If any of these numbers are even close to accurate, then it is one of the most significant child molestation finds that we have ever encountered," said San Jose Police Lt. Scott Cornfield, who called the case "horrendous."
Headings for the grim logs include "Blond Boys," "Cute Boys," "Boys who say no," and boys by specific sex act, Cornfield said.
"I've never seen anything like this," said Sgt. Tom Sims, head of San Jose's child exploitation unit.
Lisa Thornburg, who moved into the neighborhood in March and lives two doors from Schwartzmiller, said she's been suspicious for months - ever since her 9- and 6-year-old sons came home with treats Schwartzmiller purchased for them from an ice cream truck.
"After that, I told them they could ride bikes past his house but couldn't go inside - ever," Thornburg said as her kids played with another neighborhood child in the front driveway.
"It's been frightening and fairly disgusting to find out what's going on," she added.
With Schwartzmiller safely behind bars - held without bail on one count of aggravated sexual assault on a child under 14 and six counts of lewd and lascivious conduct on a child under 14, with each count alleging multiple victims - police were trying to reconstruct his movements over the past 30 years.
A message left for Schwartzmiller's public defender, Irma Gallardo, was not returned Thursday.
Police have also arrested Schwartzmiller's roommate - another convicted child molester - in the home they shared in a middle-class San Jose subdivision. The beige stucco ranch is a 10-minute walk from at least two elementary schools.
The front door was plastered with eviction notices from the landlord, saying the pair had three days to pay $1,850 in monthly rent or face eviction. Half-closed blinds revealed a home office whose floor was littered with power cords, computer manuals, printers, manila envelopes and a bottle of tequila.
The list of names found in the police search of Schwartzmiller's bedroom were categorized according to the type of sex acts performed, the age of the victims and other codes whose meaning is unclear - such as an "F" or "X" at the end of the entry, according to Cornfield. Many of the entries did not include last names, and some appeared to be repeats, making police cautious about estimating how many people Schwartzmiller may have victimized.
"If one-tenth of these numbers are accurate, we're looking at hundreds of victims in a number of states. The reason we want to tell the world about this is because we believe he's been involved in child molestations in a number of countries," said Cornfield.
Schwartzmiller's roommate, Fred Everts, is also in jail after police arrested him last month. He was convicted in 1993 for sodomy and sex abuse in Multnomah County, Oregon, and spent four years in prison before violating parole and fleeing the state.
Everts also was charged with child molestation in San Jose, including one count involving one of Schwartzmiller's two alleged victims.
Police who raided the home seized several computers and a 6-foot-tall server, which is being analyzed by a forensic lab in Menlo Park. Cornfield, who is part of a special police unit specializing in Internet crimes against children, said police are trying to determine whether Schwartzmiller was operating a Web site or otherwise using his computers to lure victims.
Although police say Schwartzmiller appears to have spent much of the past 30 years in California, he has also been arrested on child molestation charges in New York, Idaho, Oregon, Arkansas and Washington. He has also lived in Nevada, Texas and Washington.
In 1984, the Idaho Supreme Court upheld a 1978 conviction for molesting two 14-year-old boys and characterized Schwartzmiller as a "repeat offender" who "uses his intelligence to take advantage of the weak and oppressed and those who are in need."
Schwartzmiller "frequents areas where young boys may be found, befriends boys with no father figure in the home, entices them from their homes, lowers their natural inhibitions through the use of drugs and alcohol, and commits sex acts upon them," the justices wrote.
He's also wanted in Oregon on felony sexual assault charges involving a minor. After serving prison time in Idaho for child molestation in the late 1970s, he lived in Brazil, and was extradited from there to Idaho again in the late 1980s, Cornfield said.
Schwartzmiller has used aliases including Dean Harmon and Dean Miller. He apparently gained the trust of victims and parents by working as a home renovation contractor, and it appears that he didn't register as required, so that his history as a sex offender did not appear in the "Megan's Law" databases in California or other states, they said.
Sgt. Tom Sims, a supervisor with the department's child exploitation division, expressed frustration that Schwartzmiller has been able to live out of jail for most of his life, despite multiple convictions in several states.
"There's not a lot parents or the public can do in way of Megan's Law if those people don't register," said Sims. "It's as shocking to me as to you. I've never seen anything like this."
San Jose police got involved after Schwartzmiller allegedly befriended at least two boys in San Jose with gifts, invited them to his house for video games and movies, and molested them.
Snohomish County Sheriff's deputies arrested Schwartzmiller May 23 in Everett, Wash. on $2 million in warrants from San Jose. He was extradited to San Jose June 7.
In Snohomish County, Schwartzmiller was charged in February 1997 with one count of first-degree child molestation, two counts of second-degree child molestation and one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes. He was acquitted later that year by a Snohomish County Superior Court jury.
According to Snohomish County court records, Schwartzmiller, who was 55 at the time, was accused of molesting two brothers, ages 13 and 9, during a four-month period in 1996. The boys described Schwartzmiller as a longtime family friend.
Lynda Pichler of Everett Thursday described Schwartzmiller to The Seattle Times as a longtime family friend who attended Snohomish High School with her parents. She said Schwartzmiller had spent the night at her home the day before his arrest in Everett.
When they were growing up, Pichler and her three brothers were spoiled by Schwartzmiller, she said. She said her own daughters think of him as a grandfather.
Whenever Schwartzmiller was in town "he would spend an afternoon at our house," said Pichler, 45. "He loved to spoil us kids."
In San Jose, Vince Nunez, another neighbor who watched as police searched the home recently, said he's seen Schwartzmiller and Everts working outside on old cars. A rusting, dark green Plymouth Fury sat in Schwartzmiller's oil-stained driveway, covered with a blue tarp held down with rocks.
"This is pretty devastating to the neighborhood," said Nunez, who moved in earlier this year with his three girls, ages 7 to 17. "We're keeping a pretty close eye on all the kids on the block now."
Police are asking victims or anyone with information about Schwartzmiller to call the San Jose Police Department's child exploitation division at 408-277-4102. People who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 408-947-STOP.