Originally published Friday, October 3, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Sex offender sentenced to prison for molesting young relative
A 79-year-old California man who allegedly abused three generations of relatives was sentenced today to nearly 11 years in prison for molesting a young relative during a family vacation in Bellevue.
Seattle Times staff reporter
A 79-year-old California man who allegedly abused three generations of relatives was sentenced today to nearly 11 years in prison for molesting a young relative during a family vacation in Bellevue.
Roger Scherner was one of the first child-molestation suspects in the state whose case was handled under a new law that allows for past abuse allegations against a defendant to be admitted as evidence in a new case. In the past, a jury was not permitted to hear about an accused person's past criminal convictions or accusations.
Scherner was charged with molesting only one girl but was accused of molestation by at least nine women, spanning three generations. During Scherner's August trial, jurors heard from four women, three of them relatives, who said that Scherner had molested them as children.
The victim in the case resolved today was 7 when she was molested.
Scherner, of Carmel, Calif., was arrested and charged in 2003 after the girl, now 14, told her mother that Scherner molested her on a family vacation in Bellevue the previous year.
Scherner testified during the trial that he simply rebuffed the girl's request to share his bed, then admitted on the stand to molesting another young relative, who is now 29. The jury convicted him on three counts of first-degree child molestation.
In February, just before his trial was originally set to begin, Scherner jumped bail and fled to Florida with cash, golf clubs, disguises and a gun, according to court documents. U.S. marshals found him a week later.
Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com
Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
![]()
UPDATE - 09:46 AM
Exxon Mobil wins ruling in Alaska oil spill case
NEW - 7:51 AM
Longview man says he was tortured with hot knife
Longview man says he was tortured with hot knife
Longview mill spills bleach into Columbia River
NEW - 8:00 AM
More extensive TSA searches in Sea-Tac Airport rattle some travelers

nwautos
Turismo upgrade "Gran Turismo 5: XL Edition" for PlayStation 3 has features such as new car-tuning settings, new NASCAR vehicles, better replay video...
Post a comment
- Council members get briefing on arena proposal, minus details
- Washington men walloped by Oregon, 82-57
- Wanted in Seattle classrooms: more teachers of color
- APNewsBreak: Powell had 'incestuous' images
- A few late-night notes --- Cox gets a new job, UW QB class lauded and more | Husky Football Blog
- Boeing worker caught under 787 wheel has legs amputated
- Microsoft offers more details about Windows 8 on devices
- Under fire, Obama adjusts his birth control policy
- Social worker recounts minutes before Powell fire
- Comforter in Powell unit tests positive for blood
- Gay-marriage bill passes House, awaits Gregoire's signature
511 - Wanted in Seattle classrooms: more teachers of color
425 - AP Source: Obama to change birth control rule
424 - Council members get briefing on arena proposal, minus details
401 - New TV deals won't guarantee everlasting success; that part will still take work by Mariners and others
118 - Rough road again
112 - A few late-night notes
98 - USA Today further spells out how Mariners, handful of clubs next in line for huge cash windfall
77 - Marijuana legalization initiative set to go on Nov. ballot
77 - UW throttled at Oregon
68
- Wanted in Seattle classrooms: more teachers of color
- State Medicaid program to stop paying for unneeded ER visits
- 3 big health insurers stockpile $2.4 billion as rates keep rising
- Economy, blogs give survivalists new reason to look to Northwest
- Bellevue College adds a third bachelor's degree program
- State's share of mortgage settlement: $648 million
- Darren Berg gets 18-year sentence for Ponzi scheme
- One man's audacious pursuit of sailing history
- $25B settlement reached over foreclosure abuses
- 'Gauguin and Polynesia': dazzling mix-and-match | Art review







