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Molester kept list of 36,000 children's names

07:26 AM PDT on Friday, June 17, 2005


Associated Press



SAN JOSE, Calif. - A convicted child molester with ties to Washington, Idaho and Oregon may have committed sex crimes against thousands of victims, police said Thursday after finding computers, notebooks and handwritten lists with more than 36,000 boys' names and codes apparently indicating various sex acts.

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Linda Byron reports

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Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller, 63, is "one of the most active child molesters we've ever seen," said San Jose Police Lt. Scott Cornfield. Characterizing the case as "horrendous," he appealed for help from the public in identifying more victims.

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 Schwartzmiller, who is now in jail on felony molestation charges involving two local 12-year-old boys.

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.

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.

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.

A message left for Schwartzmiller's public defender, Irma Gallardo, was not returned Thursday.

Suspicious for months

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.


AP photo

Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller, 63, after his arrest in Snohomish County, Wash., in May 2005.
"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, but I guess it's a blessing they caught him and he's in jail now. What are the chances of two people like this living on your block?"

During a search of Schwartzmiller's bedroom last month in San Jose, police discovered at least seven multicolored, spiral-bound notebooks, listing in loopy cursive more than 36,000 children's names - apparently all boys.

The names 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. Many of the entries listed in more than 1,360 pages 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.

Roommate also in jail

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.


AP

Lisa Thornburg, center, poses with her sons Tommy, 6, right, and Joey, 9, left, at their home, just two doors from the home of Dean Arthur Schwartzmiller and Fred Everts in San Jose, Calif.
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.

Used aliases

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.

Arrested in Everett

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.”

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."

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These are the type of people that don't deserve a quick and painless death.