By Brian Anderson
Valley Times

Oct 23, 2001

OAKLAND — A Pleasanton man accused of molesting an Oakland boy more than three decades ago kept hundreds of images of child pornography on a computer, including one of an exposed boy taken three years ago, officials said Monday.

At a court hearing in Oakland, county prosecutor Karen Meredith told a judge that Oakland police investigators discovered the illegal material on two computers owned by Michael Schoop, 51. Meredith said a photo of a 14-year-old boy found on a computer hard drive indicates there are more recent victims than the man who told police he was molested in the late 1960s. Calling the collection of suspected child pornography "very extensive," Meredith told Judge Thomas Reardon the picture was taken several years ago on Schoop's houseboat. It shows, she said, the genitalia of a boy who is now 17.

"The public needs to be afraid of Mr. Schoop," she said during the hearing to determine whether bail should be lowered.

But Schoop's attorney, Bruce Nickerson, said police often mislabel photos as being child pornography when, in fact, they are not illegal. Nickerson also has said that the man accusing Schoop of the inappropriate conduct sent pornographic pictures to him via e-mail and that the Fremont teacher immediately deleted them.

"I frankly think this porn thing is a huge potential smokescreen," Nickerson said.

Schoop was arrested earlier this month after a now-grown man told Oakland police he had been molested weekly beginning in 1967 when Schoop was staying at the family's home. Police said the abuse stopped about 1970 after the family moved out of the area.

Reardon said Monday there was a "voluminous amount of material" and had to assume the charges were true when considering whether to lower Schoop's bail. Citing a police report, Reardon pointed out that the district attorney "conservatively" charged Schoop with four molestation counts and a child porn count.

He declined to lower the $200,000 bail.

Attending the hearing were Schoop's mother, brother and a former student who said he was "shocked" by the charges.

Zach Padgett, 27, of Tracy, Calif., said Schoop taught him at Fremont's Mission Valley Elementary School from second grade through sixth grade. He said his fellow students were jealous of Schoop's students because the teacher worked well with the kids.

"He was like a father to me," Padgett said, adding that he recently took his two kids fishing on Schoop's houseboat. "I had a lot of things going on and he was always there to get me out of things that were bad. I still can't believe this."

Schoop has yet to enter a plea to the charges and is being held in an Oakland jail.