Matt Hickey is a photographer and writer who was based in Seattle, when he allegedly ran an elaborate recruitment scam in order to sleep with women who thought they were auditioning to work in pornography. He supposedly created multiple fake accounts on Facebook to trick women into trusting him, by posing as a female entertainment scout named “Deja Stwalley.”
Last week, the Washington Attorney General’s office filed a consumer protection lawsuit against Hickey, according to ABC News. The lawsuit alleges that Hickey created a fictitious business and used deceptive ads to lure women with fake employment for his “own personal gain” and to “satisfy his sexual desires.” In a statement on the case, Attorney General Bob Ferguson said, “This is one of the most egregious scams I’ve seen as Attorney General,” adding, “Beyond the monetary damage his victims suffered pursuing the defendant’s fictional job opportunities, they endured emotional trauma and unconscionable loss of privacy through his deception.”
The Stranger reports that this civil suit is coming on top of rape charges, which landed Hickey in a Nevada jail in late October. The rape charges are related to incidents mostly separate from his porn scam charges. Capitol Hill says that the Seattle Police found nine different women who claim Hickey had sex or attempted to have sex with them when they were too inebriated to consent or under false pretenses, but only three cases were within the statute of limitations and prosecutable:
An acquaintance of Hickey’s told police she was sick at home on Oct. 14, 2013, and had agreed to an offer for Hickey to come by and make hot toddies. She said she drank too much, later waking up naked in bed, according to the prosecutor’s complaint, finding a condom wrapper on the floor. She said she confronted Hickey online, and he told her he thought she was coherent and enjoyed it, the complaint states.
Another alleged victim of Hickey’s told police she met him through an online dating site. They met at a Capitol Hill restaurant in February 2014, had several drinks and went back to his place, according to the complaint. The alleged victim said Hickey made her a drink and she became fuzzy after several sips, and the Capitol Hill man later began kissing her and then aggressively groping her. She too woke up with missing clothes and a condom wrapper on the floor, the complaint states.
The third victim was a 17-year-old who was contacted by Hickey’s alleged alias, Deja Stwalley, online. “Stwalley” suggested she get her pictures taken by Hickey. The woman says she went to Hickey’s apartment for a lingerie photo shoot, and Hickey mixed her a drink. She says shortly after she “became fuzzy.” She recalls her photo being taken and then “spotty memories of Hickey having sex with her.”
The Attorney General’s office is asking the court to halt Hickey’s illegal business practices, provide restitution to victims, and order him to pay $2,000 for each violation in civil penalties, according to ABC News. The Stranger says the AG has interviewed as many as 8 women who were marks of Hickey’s lies. Hickey is due in court January 10 to face the case-setting hearing for his rape charges.
(Hickey wrote for The Stranger, Capitol Hill and Jezebel’s sister site Gizmodo)
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