Sex Allegations Swirled Around Md. Man Before

Before he was charged in recent weeks with abusing three minors, Stanley D. Schwartz had a clean record.

But allegations of sexual misconduct with underage boys by the 64-year-old patent lawyer were first made more than a decade ago, a Montgomery County detective said.

Jordan Satinsky said fellow detectives opened an investigation in 1992 after the Rockville man was accused of sexually touching at least nine Thomas S. Wootton High School male basketball players, whom he coached.

Schwartz also has been accused of inappropriate sexual conduct with boys between the ages of 13 and 16, whom he chaperoned on ski trips and hosted at his home as foreign exchange students, the detective said.

Satinsky said none of the previous allegations brought to the attention of police led to charges because they couldn't be corroborated and no alleged victims wanted to come forward.

Schwartz's attorney, Sanford Berman, would not comment on the allegations or the supervisory roles that have placed Schwartz in close contact with male teenagers. He said his client should be presumed innocent unless proved guilty in court. He also said his client would not be available for an interview.

"We have no response to police allegations in the press," Berman said. "We respond to them in the courtroom."

Satinsky said he chose to disclose information about the earlier investigations because he believes others might be willing to come forward now that some have formally accused Schwartz of molesting them.

"I think he has been doing this for a very long time," Satinsky said.

Satinsky said Schwartz, a longtime Montgomery resident who has a law practice in Arlington County, has been estranged from most of his close relatives for more than a decade. He was married for nearly 30 years before his wife filed for divorce in 1997, according to court records.

Some of the teenagers said inappropriate sexual touching occurred after Schwartz had given them alcohol, the detective said.

Schwartz was apparently a volunteer coach at Wootton; a school system spokesman said he had never been on the system's payroll. Some of the allegations involving Wootton students were made to police after Schwartz took teenagers on out-of-state trips to help him do legal research, the detective said.