May 31, 2022 10p
(WGTD)---A Kenosha man who used the persona of his son to persuade a teenaged girl to send him nude photos of herself received a five-year-long prison term Tuesday.
According to accounts that were presented in court, 58-year-old Howard Hickey led a double life as a family man and a boy scout leader while scouring the internet as a child predator.
The victim was 16 when she struck up both internet and phone-based interactions with someone who she thought was around her age.
According to the criminal complaint, the girl sent a series of nude photographs and videos.
The girl broke off the contact as she grew increasingly uncomfortable. But the messages from the male continued on and off over the next several years. When the girl started to refuse his commands, Hickey posted her nude photos and phone number on prostitution-related websites.
The woman’s boyfriend and police eventually helped her figure out that she’d been communicating with a man in his 50s.
Now 21, the woman shook and cried in court Tuesday while describing to Judge Jason Rossell the horrific impact this has had on her life.
In his statement to the judge, Hickey apologized profusely, saying that with the help of therapy he now fully realizes the damage he caused.
His attorney, Pat Cafferty, said his client had been diagnosed with a sex disorder and had all kinds of oppressed sexual issues. The anonymity of the internet allowed him to operate with no empathy for the victim, Cafferty said.
In sending Hickey to prison, Judge Rossell said: "We require adults to be adults." Rossell also said he highly doubted that Hickey would recidivate.
After sentencing, Hickey, who’d been out of jail on bond for the past two years, turned to his son and now ex-wife sitting in the front row, shook both of their hands, passed off his jacket and tie, and was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.
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