2 More Teens Allege Molestation by Doctor Arrested in Ramona

Two teen-age boys alleged Wednesday that they, too, were sexually molested by a Ramona physician who was arrested Saturday and charged with 23 counts of molesting an 11-year-old boy over the past four years.

Sheriff’s Detective Michael Radovich, who investigates child-abuse and sex crimes, said the two teen-agers came forward Wednesday and accused Dr. John Byron DeKock of having molested them several years ago.

DeKock, a registered sex offender because of a sex-abuse conviction 28 years ago, was arraigned Tuesday in San Diego Municipal Court and pleaded not guilty to child molestation, sexual exploitation of a child and oral copulation with a child.

But Radovich said that DeKock, 62, “has admitted to some of it” during his interview with investigators.

DeKock was being held in jail Wednesday on $250,000 bail.

Sheriff’s investigators searched DeKock’s home and his Main Street doctor’s office in Ramona on Saturday and confiscated 22 photo albums and hundreds of color photographs, mostly of the 11-year-old victim who sparked the investigation after coming forward last week. In addition, they seized several expensive cameras, a video camera and light, videotapes, a diary and the book, “Pornography: Solutions Through Law.”

Radovich said that, based on the pictures and the diary references to the first names of boys, “We knew that we had more than one victim. The problem was that we couldn’t identify them.”

With Wednesday’s new information, Radovich said, more charges are now likely--and more alleged victims might still come forward.

“The investigation is ongoing. We’ve got so much work to do on this case, and we’ve been on it ever since it broke last week,” Radovich said. “We have no way to know” how many boys were allegedly victimized by the doctor.

“Maybe we have them all now, or there could be many, many more out there,” Radovich said. “Theoretically, every child who is a patient of his could be a victim.”

Radovich said the alleged molestations apparently involved pre-pubescent boys, and he theorized that the boys were just of an age where they asked their parent to remain in the waiting room when they were examined by DeKock.

“I always went in with my child, but who’s to say what other parents do,” Radovich said. “If the boy is 10, 11 or 12 years of age, maybe mom waits in the waiting room because the boy doesn’t want her to go in with him.”

The detective declined discussing the details of the allegations Wednesday by the two newest alleged victims, saying only that they saw DeKock’s photograph in the news and decided to come forward.

He said any other victims might be reluctant to go to authorities. “It seems the same things have been going on with other boys, but the problem is, a lot of them don’t want to be identified. And some have moved on with their lives.”

Most of the alleged molestations occurred at the doctor’s office, authorities have said, although at least one incident allegedly occurred at DeKock’s home, in the Country Estates subdivision in Ramona, where he lives with his wife of 17 years and where the photography equipment and some of the photographs were found.

Radovich said DeKock “is my only suspect at this time.”

He said that, when DeKock’s office was searched Saturday, investigators nearly overlooked the doctor’s private office, where most of the albums were found. “We walked through that place twice, looking for his office,” Radovich said. “There was a back door that we thought led to the parking lot, but it was a door to a hallway that led to his personal office.”

He said he has not yet gone through all the photographs, some of which, he said, depict naked young boys and others that are of boys in briefs and swimming trunks in “suggestive” poses.

DeKock was placed on 10 years’ probation in 1961 after pleading guilty to one count of child molestation after he was indicted by the county grand jury.