Police: serial molester was writing his memoirs

Police say they're only beginning to document the extent of his alleged crimes. But as investigators follow up on the hundreds of phone tips from all over the country, they're confident he won't go free again, as he has in the past despite at least three molestation convictions and a dozen arrests across the Pacific Northwest in the past three decades.

"This time we've got him," San Jose Police Lt. Scott Cornfield said in an interview. "This guy's not going anywhere."

Schwartzmiller, 64, is being held without bail on seven felony counts of child molestation involving two 12-year-old cousins from San Jose. His next court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

His public defender, Melinda Hall, said she's just starting to evaluate the evidence, still knows very little about the case and isn't getting much information from her client. "I've learned more from the newspaper," she said.

Schwartzmiller, a self-taught jailhouse lawyer who successfully sued to improve prison conditions in Idaho, hasn't said whether he'll want to represent himself, she added.

Some of the investigators' hard work is already reflected on their office walls, where large maps of California, Alaska, Oregon, Washington and Idaho show the names and addresses of at least 16 alleged victims. A blown-up copy of Schwartzmiller's mug shot hangs nearby, with this provocative question written underneath: "Child Molester of the Month? Year? Career?"

The information in Schwartzmiller's notebooks -36,700 entries, with codes for each boy's anatomy and personality - is being entered into an Excel spreadsheet. Police haven't determined how many victims they represent _ many of the line items are duplications, and some may describe his fantasies, Cornfield said.

Police also confiscated CDs, DVDs and videotapes, including child pornography, as well as computer servers and hard drives, which are being evaluated by specialists at the FBI's Regional Computer Forensic Laboratory in Menlo Park.

Cornfield said they also seized a memoir Schwartzmiller had been writing _ a narrative about his exploits with boys, composed in "Penthouse Forum" style. Typed out, the manuscript is about an inch-and-a-half thick. If you believe Schwartzmiller, "every boy was beautiful and every one wanted him," Cornfield said.

Schwartzmiller, who went by a variety of aliases and earned a living doing stucco work, is by all accounts smart, savvy and manipulative, repeatedly avoiding trials and getting out of jail or prison early. Despite his lengthy criminal record, he wasn't required to register as a sex offender.

As it turns out, it was a fender bender that finally brought him to the attention of San Jose police. On May 17, he was involved in a minor traffic accident. Police said he appeared ready to exchange information until the other driver suggested contacting the police. Schwartzmiller took off.

Police tracked down his address, went to his home and spoke to Schwartzmiller's roommate and former prison buddy, Fred Everts, 34. Schwartzmiller wasn't home. Suspicious, they checked Everts' background, found his two previous molestation convictions, and arrested him on an outstanding warrant for a parole violation in Oregon.

Meanwhile, Schwartzmiller heard about Everts' arrest and quickly fled to Washington state. From there he called one of the boys he's accused of molesting and asked him to go to his house to "remove and destroy paperwork, CDs, computer drives and other items," according to a police report. He allegedly told the 12-year-old he had been in an accident, left the state and probably wouldn't be back.

The boy brought along his siblings, who spotted some pornography on a DVD and paperwork describing Schwartzmiller's criminal past. That's when they decided to tell their mother. Two days after she went to police with evidence, including a CD containing photos of her semi-naked son, Schwartzmiller was arrested.

The boy's family has since moved out of their modest apartment building in San Jose and couldn't be tracked down for comment. The woman's sister _ the mother of the second alleged victim, who lives a few blocks away _ said police asked both families not to speak to the media.

"I just want this to be worked out the best that it can be," she said in Spanish. "I want this to come out into the light."

Schwartzmiller may not be talking, but Everts, now also charged with molesting one of the same San Jose boys, is apparently desperate for a deal with prosecutors. He's met with police at least seven times, helping to put together a case against his roommate, according to Everts' public defender, David Hultgren.

Both defendants face life in prison if convicted under California's "three strikes" law.

"He's freaked out about the whole thing, understandably so," Hultgren said. "I said, 'Look, he wants to help.' I said, 'Fred wants to cooperate.'"

Hultgren says Everts, 34, is no "angel," given his previous convictions and his "unhealthy obsession" with boys. But he portrays him as more of an observer than an equal partner in crime who idolized Schwartzmiller, understands the damage molestation causes and "does have true remorse."

Prosecutor Steve Fein won't discuss how many alleged victims they've heard from, or whether any of the reports might result in additional charges against Schwartzmiller. Meanwhile, Cornfield, for one, is eager to talk to Schwartzmiller. He wants to use what he learns to train investigators on interrogation techniques.