JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Psychologist Dr. Amy Hartley said the allegations against Duane Sikes, a former VyStar employee convicted of embezzling millions, contain the classic signs of grooming, like gaining a potential victim’s trust and giving them, money, gifts, alcohol and drugs.
“It sounded like a lot of what you know, these types of predators will engage in in terms of gaining access to a victim,” Hartley said.
Hartley has been practicing for nearly two decades and has experience working with victims and offenders.
According to investigators, Sikes would invite boys to swim in his pool or perform household chores for money.
Back in 2019, Sikes was sentenced to prison for embezzling millions of dollars from his employer. At a court hearing in that case a federal prosecutor said Sikes preyed on boys who didn’t have a lot of money. One testified at sentencing that Sikes acted as a father figure to him.
“A lot of predators will seek out what they consider to be vulnerable individuals. And that can be males or females, but usually they come from lower-income families, where money might be an issue or supervision might be an issue, because, you know, mom or dad is working a lot of hours to support the family,” Hartley said.
Three people testified at Sikes’ sentencing in 2019 that he sexually abused them as boys.
According to the prosecutor, JSO had been notified about potential abuse as far back as 2010. One father said Sikes had given his son money for sexual acts and a few months later, someone reported they’d heard rumors about boys being recorded in sexual situations at Sikes’ home.
And 2012, the prosecutor said, a teacher at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts told an officer about a student possibly being exploited or abused.
Another teacher said that the student “would often come to her class to recruit other children to come with him to the sex house” and even the Douglas Anderson principal confirmed that they “had heard rumors that Victim 1 had been hanging around a grown man, letting him take pictures, and going to his house.”
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The alleged victim denied being abused at the time but later, when Sikes was set to go to prison for financial crimes, they, and two others, told the court they had been scared to speak out in the past because Sikes had told them he had family connections to the mafia and he “could make you disappear.”
Dr. Hartley said stigma and shame can also silence male victims especially when their abuser is a man.
Sikes was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the financial crimes and he’s currently in the Duval County jail as he faces these child sex crime charges.
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