Police Say Burglar Offered False Evidence in Other Cases : Simpson case: The man who claimed he saw two white men fleeing after the slayings also reported seeing Polly Klaas alive a month after she had been slain, authorities say.

A self-professed burglar who says he saw two burly white men leaving the scene where Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Lyle Goldman were killed has come forward in previous cases pretending to have important evidence, law enforcement sources said Wednesday.

The burglar, Frank Chiuchiolo, has been in prison three times and has a history of running scams--a record that he admitted in interviews with The Times. But according to law enforcement sources, the burglar has offered false evidence in other high-publicity cases, including the Polly Klaas investigation.

Marc Klaas, the father of the victim in that case, confirmed that Chiuchiolo had called the Polly Klaas Foundation on Nov. 5, 1993. “He said that he had seen Polly on Nov. 1,” Klaas said.

Authorities believe that Klaas was killed within hours of her abduction on Oct. 1, 1993.

If Chiuchiolo’s story about the Simpson case turns out to be false--or if his credibility is so badly damaged that O.J. Simpson’s defense attorneys cannot afford to call him as a witness--it could deprive Simpson of potentially valuable testimony.

Without naming him, Simpson lawyer Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. said in court last week that the witness “has given testimony or evidence that is totally inconsistent with the theory of a lone assailant and is entirely inconsistent with the fact that Mr. Simpson is that assailant.”

Records from the Klaas Foundation show that Chiuchiolo called on the morning of Nov. 5 and told a phone operator that he had seen Klaas in a parking lot accompanied by a man with long, dark hair.

“He yelled ‘Polly,’ and the child turned and so did the man,” the operator said Chiuchiolo reported. “He then yelled ‘Dolly’ to protect himself. . . . Caller has been in prison and is very nervous about talking to police.”

Chiuchiolo spoke to The Times on several occasions last month on the condition that his identity not be revealed. But after the San Francisco Examiner published his name Wednesday, he agreed to allow The Times to do the same.

In an interview Wednesday, Chiuchiolo denied that he had spoken to authorities about the Klaas case. Attempts to reach him later in the day to ask about his contact with the Klaas Foundation were unsuccessful.

Members of Simpson’s defense camp have spent considerable time checking out Chiuchiolo’s story, meeting with him numerous times and questioning him about his alleged observations on the night of the slayings. From the start, Chiuchiolo has acknowledged his long criminal history. His rap sheet shows dozens of arrests in California, Nevada and New York. Most were for burglary or theft.

Details of his history were confirmed by law enforcement sources last week and published by The Times. Chiuchiolo never mentioned offering evidence in previous cases, and on Wednesday continued to deny that he had ever misled authorities.

“The feds are going to try to discredit me on this thing,” he said. “But I know what I saw. There’s no doubt at all. I saw two white guys leaving that scene.”

As new details have emerged, however, police have become convinced that the man is lying, and members of the defense camp have grown more wary as well. LAPD detectives in the Simpson case met with him for more than three hours last week. Afterward, they asked other law enforcement agencies to assist them in gathering background material about him.

In his interviews with police, defense investigators and The Times, Chiuchiolo said he had driven to Los Angeles from Northern California on June 12 so that he could burglarize houses. Chiuchiolo said he made the long trip because he did not want authorities to connect him to the crimes, adding that he is well-known to police in Happy Camp, where he lives.

Once in Brentwood, Chiuchiolo said, he spent much of the evening casing houses, working his way through various neighborhoods, picking out houses that appeared to be empty and planning to burglarize them once darkness fell.

About 9 p.m., Chiuchiolo said, he saw two men near what turned out to be Nicole Simpson’s condominium. He said they looked like security guards, so he kept moving.

Shortly after 10 p.m., Chiuchiolo added, he was approaching another house across the street and preparing to go inside when he heard a woman scream and turned to see the same two men running away.

Frightened, Chiuchiolo said he ran back to his own car and sped back home, stopping only for gas and to call his wife.

Chiuchiolo’s story impressed defense attorneys and investigators in part because he came forward before a $500,000 reward was offered for information leading to the arrest of the “real killer or killers.”

Robert L. Shapiro, Simpson’s lead lawyer, said Wednesday that he was unaware of any new developments regarding the burglar, but said he and the rest of the Simpson defense team have many leads to pursue, not just the testimony offered by the burglar.

Legal experts said that if Chiuchiolo did provide false reports in previous cases, he almost certainly will not make an appearance in this one.

“If the report of this individual coming forth with inaccurate information in other high-profile cases is true, then this mystery witness will never become a trial witness because his credibility will have been destroyed,” said Peter Arenella, a UCLA law professor. “If this report turns out to be accurate, it’s not surprising: High-profile cases tend to attract bizarre characters who will do anything to get their moment in the limelight.”

Times staff writer Henry Weinstein contributed to this report.