Boy Gets $513,500 in Molestation Suit

A 13-year-old boy who claimed that he was sexually molested for four years by a Ramona physician who later committed suicide has been awarded more than half a million dollars in his lawsuit.

The teen-ager was awarded $513,500 by a Superior Court jury earlier this week, after two days of deliberations.

Dr. John DeKock, who committed suicide in June, 1990, was 95.5% liable for the damages the boy suffered, and his wife, Louise, was 4.5%, the jury said in its ruling.

The verdict means that Louise DeKock is responsible for paying $18,000 in damages but must also pay any of the damages that cannot be paid by DeKock’s estate, attorneys said.

The boy alleged in his lawsuit that Louise DeKock, who was married to John DeKock for 16 years and worked as his office manager, should have known that he was sexually attracted to young boys.

The Ramona doctor, who was put on probation in 1961 for molesting young boys, was arrested in May, 1990, and charged with 23 counts of child molestation against the boy, who was then 11 years old.

DeKock, 62, shot himself in the head in the garage of his home on June 4, 1990, the day before a preliminary hearing on the 23 counts of child molestation. Prosecutors said then that they were prepared to file 10 more counts against DeKock after at least a half dozen other boys came forward and said they also had been molested by him.