About the only piece of evidence the prosecution didn’t have in the murder case against 20-year-old Patrick Fluker was an eyewitness testifying that he was seen shooting 29-year-old Tiffany Mendez in the head.FORT WAYNE – Twenty-one days.
That’s how long Theodore Schwartz said he went without sleep while high on methamphetamine, a streak that ended in a three-county crime spree that included the sexual assault of an Allen County woman in her home.
On Friday, the Portland man pleaded guilty to nine felony charges stemming from the attack on the woman a year ago this week.
Six additional felony charges – forgery, receiving stolen auto parts, dealing in methamphetamine, possession of methamphetamine, possession of chemical reagents with intent to manufacture methamphetamine and possession of a controlled substance – remain. Schwartz, 40, is scheduled to stand trial next month on those charges in Allen Superior Court.
In addition, he has criminal cases pending in Wells and Adams counties on charges including escape, resisting law enforcement, robbery and residential entry.
But in Allen Superior Court, Schwartz pleaded guilty to rape, two counts of criminal deviate conduct, burglary, robbery, criminal confinement, battery, strangulation and auto theft.
Days after he escaped from custody at the Berne Police Department, Schwartz broke into a southern Allen County home on Aug. 19, 2009. The woman who lived at the home arrived to find Schwartz hiding on the basement steps.
He robbed her, beat her and forced her upstairs where he raped her. After trying to strangle her and lock her in a closet, Schwartz took off in her Pontiac Grand Prix. In Wells County he is accused of breaking into two houses, stealing a van, robbing a grocery, ramming the sheriff’s squad car and escaping into a cornfield.
Schwartz was arrested as he tried to leave the field. He told police he was high on methamphetamine and opiates then went into a seizure, police said at the time.
During Friday’s guilty plea hearing, Schwartz firmly answered Allen Superior Court Magistrate Robert Schmoll’s questions. As Schmoll read the list of nine charges, to each Schwartz answered, “I plead guilty.”
As his attorney, Stanley Campbell, asked him about the details of the crime, Schwartz said he had become heavily addicted to methamphetamine, using it every day for months.
“That day I had been physically awake for 21 days,” he said.
Schwartz said that his memory of his crimes is starting to return, but some details are still cloudy.
“I believe I did rape her,” he said.
With no plea agreement in place, Schwartz could face more than 30 years in prison on each of the five most serious charges. Schmoll set a sentencing date for mid-September, right before Schwartz stands trial on the other charges.
The status of his cases in the other counties was unclear Friday afternoon.
