Consumer Protection Case Filed in Alleged Fake Porn Scheme

SEATTLE (AP) — Add a consumer protection complaint to the criminal rape charges facing a Seattle man accused of posing as a porn recruiter and tricking women into having sex with him.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said Wednesday that he sued Michael-Jon Matthew Hickey under the state Consumer Protection Act and the Commercial Electronic Mail Act, seeking restitution and thousands of dollars in penalties.

Hickey's been held on $200,000 bail at the King County Jail on three counts of second-degree rape since his arrest in Las Vegas in October. Authorities say he created deceptive email accounts and websites; posed as a photographer for a female-owned adult industry talent agency; and persuaded women to pose nude and have sex with him as part of a phony "audition."

Ferguson called it one of the most egregious scams he's seen.

Hickey's criminal defense attorney, James Bible, did not immediately return an email seeking comment.