SAN DIEGO–A man who was charged with eight felony crimes of lewd acts on a child under 14 years of age, was convicted today in San Diego court.
The District Attorney’s Office says Patrick Stanley Pawlicki, 63, was convicted of molestations involving three separate child victims.
A jury convicted Pawlicki of seven felony counts of Lewd Acts Upon a Child after deliberating for three days. They also found that the defendant committed substantial sexual conduct with the children and that there were multiple victims.
“This defendant stole the victims’ childhoods and committed the ultimate betrayal when he repeatedly molested his own daughter and two step-children,” said District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis. “Our Family Protection Division did an excellent job prosecuting this case and the jury’s guilty verdict will bring a measure of justice to the victims.”
The defendant was a mold maker and for most of his life lived in Santa Ysabel, north of Julian. The trial lasted one month with the prosecution calling more than 40 witnesses. Deputy District Attorney Dino Paraskevopoulos prosecuted the case. The victims included the defendant’s biological daughter who was nine-years old at the time and two former step-children who were 11 and 12-years old at the time of the offenses. The jury convicted the defendant of molesting the two girls and one male victim from November 17, 2003 through February 12, 2004.
Pawlicki was arrested in 2009 after his stepdaughter disclosed the molestation to a therapist in Ohio who then reported the crime to law enforcement. The San Diego Sheriff’s Department investigated the case and interviewed the two step-children. The defendant’s biological daughter has Downs Syndrome and is unable to speak or communicate. The case had been continued nearly 10 times as Pawlicki retained five different private attorneys to represent him from 2009 to the current trial date of November 7.
This case received significant media coverage after Pawlicki fled the jurisdiction prior to his trial. As a result, the court forfeited his $1,000,000 bail bond and issued an bench warrant for his arrest. Pawlicki was arrested on October 30, 2011 in Georgia by a bail bondsman/bounty hunter and booked into Douglas County Jail. Pawlicki told the bondsman that he was on his way to China. He was transported back to San Diego by San Diego Sheriff Deputies and held without bail until the November 7 jury trial.
Pawlicki is facing life in state prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 9, 2013 by San Diego Superior Court Judge Hanoian.
