Unrepentant Child Molester Gets Three Life Prison Terms

Michael Fries, unrepentant molester of little girls, was sentenced Friday to three consecutive life prison terms, but the question dogging prosecutors is how many of his victims they still haven’t found.

Fries, a 33-year-old tree trimmer, videotaped his encounters, and the cassettes proved crucial in helping convict him for molesting five young girls.

But police and prosecutors spotted on the tapes dozens of additional children whom they have not been able to identify so far. The tapes showed hundreds of children videotaped from a distance, and at least two who were in Fries’ presence unclothed.

“We don’t know who the children are,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Camille Hill said following Fries’ sentencing. “If you recognize this man’s name and he has been on your property and you have children, then you should be concerned.”

Hill advised any worried families to call the Newport Beach Police Department.

Fries didn’t offer any help. He denounced his own attorney and expressed great pity for himself, but he offered no sympathy for his victims.

“I have gone from an illegal arrest to a modern-day lynching,” Fries told Superior Court Judge Anthony Rackauckas. “You have violated all my rights.”

In addition to the three life terms, Rackauckas sentenced Fries to 52 more years in prison. Fries wouldn’t be eligible for early release until he is 115 years old.

“You are an extremely dangerous person,” the judge told Fries. “And you have shown no remorse. Not the slightest glimmer of concern for others.”

The judge discounted statements from Fries and family members who said he was molested and abused when he was young. According to Fries’ mother, Annabella Erickson, who sat sobbing in the courtroom pews, his troubled childhood was central to understanding his crimes. She said her son was raped by a relative when he was 4, and was physically abused by a schizophrenic father.

Erickson said she had hoped for leniency, but found none.

“He is sick, anybody can see that,” Erickson said afterward, clutching a box of Kleenex. “I think he should be given a chance to have treatment. The way society is now, there is no room for healing.”

Despite her son’s defiant courtroom demeanor, Erickson said he recognizes the gravity of his crimes.

“He is very sorry for what he has done,” she said.

According to his pre-sentencing report, Fries said “he does not deserve to go to prison and does not believe he has ever hurt a child in his life.”

Fries was arrested in April 1995 after a 3-year-old Newport Beach girl complained to her parents about a man the family had hired to trim trees in their yard. When police searched Fries’ apartment, they found pornography and dozens of videos of other children. Included were tapes of Fries’ molesting the 3-year-old and her 6-year-old sister.

After reviewing the tapes, police were later able to identify three more girls--ages 2, 9 and 14--who also had been molested. Fries was charged with 14 sex crimes in all, including aggravated sexual assault on a child.

Prosecutors said Fries used the same method for all his victims: He would begin a tree-trimming job at a family home, lure a child away, then videotape himself performing lewd acts on that child.

Hill, the deputy district attorney, said her office has been unable to identify at least two other youths, who appear to be children, seen on the tapes with Fries. She said their faces are not visible.

Hill said Fries clandestinely shot close-up videos of hundreds of children.

“This apparently occurred unbeknownst to the children,” Hill said.

Fries admitted nothing, but told police that he was “addicted to sex” and needed treatment.

At his trial, Fries became so unruly that Rackauckas ordered his mouth sealed shut with duct tape. Last month, an Orange County jury convicted him on all counts.

None of Fries’ victims testified at his sentencing. The parents of one family wrote Rackauckas and told him of how the attack had shattered their lives. Asked if they desired some kind of restitution, the family said no amount of money could give them peace.

“How do you pay for the sleepless nights and worry?” the father of two of the victims wrote. “How do you pay for the nightmares associated with such a horrible crime?”