Child-rape suspect, 79, can't be found

King County prosecutors were all set last week to try a 79-year-old man accused of raping a 7-year-old relative in Bellevue.

But the man, Roger Alan Scherner, of Carmel, Calif., failed to appear for his trial in Seattle on Thursday and is now on the run from police, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

A bench warrant has been issued for his arrest, and prosecutors say they are prepared to go forward with Scherner's trial once he's found. But at least one key witness in the case — an adult relative who police and prosecutors say was one of at least nine other girls sexually abused by Scherner over the past 40 years — is afraid that a chance to hold him accountable is slipping away.

Scherner is charged with raping a female relative who is now a teenager. If convicted of the two counts of first-degree child rape and one count of first-degree child molestation, he would face 13 ½ to 18 years in prison. His bail, previously $250,000, has been increased to $10 million.

In 2003, the child told her mother and then police in California, where most of the family now lives, that Scherner touched her sexually and forced her to touch him while on a family vacation in Bellevue a few years earlier, according to charging papers. The Seattle Times is not naming the girl because she is an alleged victim of a sex crime.

Bellevue police began looking into the case soon after. According to court documents filed by prosecutors, detectives interviewed nine other family members or family friends spanning three generations who said they, too, had been sexually abused by Scherner over the years. Some of those alleged victims, all adults now ranging in age from late 20s to early 50s, were scheduled to testify against Scherner at the trial. Jury selection had been scheduled to start Thursday.

One of those witnesses is Jobbie Spillane, now 40, who said Scherner, a relative, raped and molested her starting at the age of 4 until she was in her teens. Spillane wanted to talk about her ordeal, and to be named, because she said she is tired of keeping "the family secret."

Just once, she recalled, at age 10, she tried to tell her parents what was going on, but she didn't have the words, or the courage to give enough details to raise serious concerns, she said. Another attempt to alert California authorities and child-protective services after her abuse had ended didn't go anywhere, Spillane said.

Scherner's attorney, Anthony Savage, did not return a call for comment Monday.

According to charging documents in the current case, the statute of limitations has run out for all but the victim now pressing charges. It appears Scherner has never been prosecuted criminally. A call to the Sheriff's Department in Monterey County, Calif., where Scherner lives, was not returned.

Spillane, a mother and wife who lives outside San Francisco, worries that the chance to end what she says is a legacy of abuse is slipping away. "I've been waiting for this for so long," she said. "There are questions I have no answers for — how did it go on for so long?"

In addition to Spillane and the girl from the current case, police and prosecutors state in court documents that two former neighbor children, a family friend's daughter, and several other female relatives said they were sexually assaulted by Scherner as far back as about 1966.

The alleged abuse happened while they sat on Scherner's lap, went for drives, lay in their beds on vacation and swam in the pool, the women and one man told police.

King County prosecutors are not giving up on the case, said spokesman Dan Donohoe. "We're ready to pick a jury. It's a serious case — we want to bring him back."

Natalie Singer: 206-464-2704 or nsinger@seattletimes.com