PORT ANGELES — A Port Angeles man was charged with four sexual-assault-related crimes after a 23-year-old woman said he raped and strangled her July 4.
Sidney S. Hicklin Jr., 42, was in the Clallam County jail Friday on $50,000 bail for allegations of second-degree rape-forcible compulsion, second-degree assault-strangulation, harassment-threats to kill and unlawful imprisonment.
Hicklin, who does not have a felony history, will be arraigned at 9 a.m. Friday.
The woman, who said she and Hicklin had been friends, went to his East Ninth Street home at about 8 p.m. on the Fourth of July, according to the probable cause statement written by Port Angeles Police Officer JJ Smith.
The woman said Hicklin had been drinking and doing drugs and was being aggressive, so she went to a nearby convenience store to buy beer.
The two were sitting on his couch when Hicklin — 6-foot-3 and 265 pounds, according to the charging document — pinned her down, the woman said.
He put his hands around her neck, saying, “I will end you” and yelling to her about his bank card, according to the probable cause statement.
“[The woman] stated that she closed her eyes because she believed Hicklin Jr. was going to kill her,” Smith said.
For 30 minutes, Hicklin applied and released pressure on her neck before releasing one hand and raping her, the woman told Smith.
As Hicklin slowly began to let her go, she pushed him off and escaped out the front door, running “for her life,” Smith said.
A sexual-assault exam of the woman conducted at Olympic Medical Center indicated she was raped, Smith said.
Smith said the woman’s neck, throat and thigh were injured.
Hicklin, questioned by police at his home three hours later, said the woman had left with his bank card to buy beer and did not return.
The woman said she did not take Hicklin’s card and used cash.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@ peninsuladailynews.com.
