“If I can get through this, I can do anything,” said a young woman in court Sept. 6 as she described being molested by a former La Jolla businessman.
“I’m not afraid of you!” she told Donald Hickey, 62, who sat handcuffed and wearing jail clothes in a chair. He was later sentenced to 25 years in prison.
“I am strong and empowered by this,” the woman continued. “You’ll be behind bars and won’t be able to harm another woman.”
The young woman began to weep, and two people embraced her in the courtroom audience. “When I was a little girl, you scared the hell out of me,” she said. “You are a child molester.”
San Diego Superior Court Judge Yvonne Campos imposed 25 years to Hickey, who previously had pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 14, and admitted possessing images of a minor engaged in sexual activity on three electronic devices.
Deputy District Attorney Stephen Marquardt asked Campos to order Hickey to register as a sex offender in whatever community he will live in if he is ever paroled. She ordered that.
Campos ordered Hickey to pay restitution to the victims but did not disclose the amount in court. Hickey’s attorney, Danielle Iredale, opposed that order, saying he has been in jail 18 months and has no income.
Hickey registered his real estate agency on Prospect Street in La Jolla in 2009, and some online records still say he is the owner. However, another person is operating the real estate agency recently, and it appears it has been sold to him.
Iredale said Hickey had no prior criminal record. She attempted to get his case into a diversion program for mental health treatment, but that was denied.
A number of similar charges including oral copulation with minors were dismissed after he pleaded guilty to five counts.
The parents of one victim testified Aug. 16 in an earlier hearing.
“I am scarred and wounded as is my child and yet we feel triumphant in that you’re going to prison for the better part of the rest of your life,” said the mother of a victim.
“I cannot even tell you how many nights I have stayed awake with my child having nightmares…and an extreme coughing attack all due to what you were doing to her,” said the mother angrily.
“Your horrific crimes have caused immense grief and anguish to my wife and my daughter,” said one man. “It will take them the rest of their lives to heal from the evidence and harm that you have brought to them if they’re fully able to heal at all.”
Campos gave Hickey credit for 645 days already spent in jail. He was also fined, but the amounts were not specified.
Hickey said he had been molested as a boy as an explanation for his later behavior.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported that someone with Hickey’s e-mail address and phone number uploaded images of suspected child pornography in Sept. 2016. The organization reported it to San Diego Police, and a detective with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force began investigating it, according to records.
