Va. Wife Discovered Utah Wife and More
By Tom Jackman --Washington Post Staff Writer
Ed Hicks is married to two women: one in Fairfax County and one in Utah. He previously has been married to at least five other women in this country, and, three times, he did not manage to get divorced from one before hitching up with another.
Hicks, 61, is "in love with love," according to a profile he posted on a dating Web site. Current and ex-wives describe him as romantic, handy around the house, a smooth talker. One woman continued to live with him after they were divorced.
He was "the first man I ever fell in love with," said Sharon Hicks Pratt, 60, of Las Vegas, the second of his former wives and the mother of his first child. While living in California, the two took motorcycle rides along the coast every weekend, Pratt said. Hicks built a brick wall outside their home, installed lawn sprinklers, redecorated the bathrooms and served as a father to the three kids she had before she met him, she said.
"He could be a real nice husband," Pratt said. "But he just has to have more than one woman."
Sandra Phipps Hicks, his Fairfax wife, found that out the hard way in April, when their tax refund check was redirected to pay off a tax lien from his marriage to Julie Flint Hicks, 43 -- his wife in Layton, Utah.
Sandra Hicks went to Fairfax police and showed them a copy of Julie Hicks's marriage license. They charged Ed Hicks with bigamy, a rarely used felony count that in the case of conviction carries a minimum two-year prison sentence. Hicks has a date today in a Fairfax courtroom.
After the discovery, Sandra Hicks began digging into her husband's past, working backward from ex-wife to ex-wife. The last three wives have formed a support circle of sorts, commiserating with one another and warning Ed Hicks's new romantic prospects of his secret past.
"I had already picked up on some of his lies and was a blind fool to his cheating," said Sandra Hicks, 49, who married Ed Hicks two years ago. "But he, in his charismatic, smooth way, was always able to explain it away."
Ed Hicks has been officially single between marriages only for periods of eight days, six days and 13 months, court records show. He has three children and has had nine stepchildren.
He lived in the Hybla Valley section of Fairfax with Sandra until April, when she booted him out of their townhouse. He declined repeated requests for an interview.
According to Hicks's résumé, obtained from Sandra Hicks, he is a publications analyst for the Army and works with a low-level security clearance at the Hoffman Complex in Alexandria. He has worked as a civilian for the military for most of his career.
"He was so much fun," said Julie Flint Hicks, his Utah wife. She met him at her job in the early 1990s when both were living in California, and after a chance meeting several years later, they began dating. She said Ed Hicks told her that he had been married once before, to the mother of his two children, and that he had bachelor's and master's degrees. All false.
The two went on only one formal date, Julie Hicks said, because Ed was raising two children. Instead, they stayed in and watched television mostly.
"It didn't really bother me because he was a good dad, he was watching out for his kids," Julie Hicks said. "If you had asked me then, 'Does he love me?' Oh, yes, there is no doubt in my mind.
"It was so strong. Then one day, it turned off. It was just weird. I don't know why."
They had been married four years and were living in Chesapeake, Va. Julie Hicks's parents in Utah were both ill, and she made plans to go there to help them. One morning, as she was getting ready to leave, she found a typed letter on her pillow from her husband, telling her, "It is not working out." Julie Hicks went to Utah and never returned to Virginia. She also never divorced Ed Hicks.
While Julie Hicks was in Utah, Ed Hicks moved on to Sandra Hicks, whom he met through an Internet dating site. Ed Hicks began driving to Northern Virginia to date her, not mentioning his wife in Chesapeake.
"I loved him. I wanted to be his wife, I wanted to share a lifetime with him," said Sandra Hicks, who took in his two teenage children and helped support them even before their father had moved in with her. The two went fishing, traveled together and bought property in the Bahamas. Sandra Hicks said she paid for everything.
Then, shortly before their second anniversary in May, she called the IRS to find out why they hadn't received their tax refund. She was told it had been applied to a tax lien from his joint return in 1999 with Julie Hicks.
She contacted Julie Hicks and learned that she was still married to Ed Hicks. Then Sandra Hicks checked the Internet and found he was still looking for women to date. She kicked him out April 13 and went to police six days later.
In addition to the trail of broken hearts and financial problems that current and ex-wives say Ed Hicks has wrought, his legacy includes an abandoned son, who is living in Las Vegas. At 32, Christopher M. Hicks, his son with Sharon Hicks Pratt, is working his first job and getting his life in order after years in foster care, street gangs and prison. He hasn't seen or spoken to his father in 20 years.
"I don't know what I would say to him," Christopher Hicks said. "I think maybe if he would have taken care of me, I think we both could have bettered each other. Maybe we wouldn't have been in this [mess]."
Hicks was 21 and in the Air Force in California in 1965 when he first got married, to a woman with four young children. Over the next four decades, he would impose strict rules on how his households should be run, inflict occasional beatings on the kids, according to his first son and his stepchildren, and start dating other women while he was still married.
Sharon Hicks Pratt, his second wife, was then Sharon Tealer and the half sister of his first wife. They had Christopher while Hicks was still married to his first wife.
"Everything he did was romantic to me," Pratt said.
Then, she said, she caught him cheating. Hicks was on to wife No. 3, taking young Christopher with him to Washington state and refusing to disclose his whereabouts, Pratt said.
Hicks invited his third wife, Monica Marschall Hicks, and her friend Johnette Erlandson, to live with him. This, in turn, led to Erlandson becoming wife No. 4, though Hicks hadn't divorced his third wife, according to court records.
Ed and Johnette Hicks had two children together in the mid-1980s. Even after they divorced in 1994, they continued to live together for several years, she said. "He's just a very charismatic individual," said Johnette Hicks, now 45.
The pattern continues to this day: A seemingly normal relationship begins between a single, working woman and a divorced man with two children, followed by a quick trip to the courthouse for a civil ceremony. No mention of any existing marriages from Hicks and not much financial contribution from him, either, his recent wives said.
"I just think he wanted control," Johnette Hicks said. "He looks at his women and his children as his possessions."
Julie Hicks said that after she and Ed Hicks grew close in the mid-1990s, even as he was married to his fifth wife, he moved all of Flint's furniture into his new home in California without telling her. At first, she said, she was taken aback. But she saw it as a romantic gesture and moved in with him.
Their wedding was a brief courthouse ceremony. By 2000, they had moved to Chesapeake and their relationship had soured.
"I ended up having to declare bankruptcy and I lost my car," Julie Hicks said, after her husband ran up credit card bills and failed to make payments.
By early 2001, Ed Hicks was looking around again and posted his profile on the Internet. That's when he met wife No. 7: Sandra Phipps, a technical writer and former teacher.
"He has an aura of magic about him that is mesmerizing," she said. They went fishing and took vacations together. Sandra Hicks said she, too, always paid for both of them. They married in a civil ceremony in the Bahamas.
As with all of Ed Hicks's marriages, the magic quickly wore off. Sandra Hicks said debt collectors soon began appearing at her door.
After learning about the Utah wife, she checked the Internet. There he was, trolling, Sandra Hicks said. She threw him out and had to take out a home equity loan to repay the debts her husband had incurred.
"That's my money, and I'll never see it," she said. "And I don't want to see it as long as he gets thrown in jail."
Even after he was arrested in late May, Hicks did not stop looking for love. Sandra Hicks said he has dated a woman he met online and has been chatting online with at least four other women -- three of whom are fictitious characters created by his Fairfax wife.
"He was charming, he was accommodating, he seemed to be who he said he was," said one of the women Hicks has dated several times in recent weeks, until she was alerted to his history by his current wives. Hicks told her he was 52, had graduated from California Polytechnic State University and had been married only twice -- all false. She and Sandra Hicks were particularly impressed by his government security clearance, thinking it signaled a level of verified integrity.
(Note: Hicks STILL has security clearance - WHY IS THAT!?)
I know men," said the woman, who requested anonymity to protect her privacy. "You usually can pick up red flags. But him . . . God, he talks good."
Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.
******
More internet trolling - captured by Sandra Hicks and published here - for your EDIFICATION as to what to expect from this PREDATOR.
TO: XXXX
From: Charles Hicks
Sam, I am glad you have such family support. It is wonderful to have them around when things are tough. It is also great that your Ex has come to help as well. You have a structure, which permits such helpful actions.
You asked quite a few questions which I thought we would have gotten to by now. I understand your concern since your last relationship went bad on you. I felt as though I was paying the price for someone else's actions. I backed off since it seemed you were guarding against to close a contact. I was not happy about it but I did understand. (NOTE from Site Owner: Notice the "I am such a sensitive noble guy B.S.!!) I felt you would be worth getting to know even if we just turned out to be friends. I don't have a problem with just being friends at this point. I just would not enjoy being scrutinized to the point of being bad until I or someone else proves I am not. More like being guilty until proven innocent. Okay, I am past that stage and am willing to move on if the effort on both our parts are genuine.
When I first told you I was not living alone you were confused about that. Let me address that issue so we can either move past it or let it hold us back. I am planning to retire sometime within the next year or so. I have a house to build on the island and paying premium dollar for a house or condo in Alexandria or any surrounding community would not be in my best interest. I have seen housing markets come to a screeching halt in the past. House sales slump to lows, which would keep me here and not allow me to sell and move on in my life. I cannot or will not allow my hopes & dreams to be smothered by market sales of homes. Remaining liquid is the way to control my own destiny. I don't know what to tell you other than that is my decision and it is best for me. My children are grown and are not in the equation now. I don’t' have to provide a home and stability as I had for over 20 years. My thoughts are now to do what I can to ensure a retirement which will allow me to travel and do what I makes sense to me and give me what I have worked for all my life. I hope you understand and not put me into a box, which is associated with everyone else.
(Note: Can we count the number of times this narcissist said "me" or "I"??)
Your life with your Ex ended in an equitable sharing of assets and things you both accumulated together. I was married twice. My first, she and I are great friends. (LIE!) Things happened which had no bearing on love or caring. I raised two children from diapers to adulthood. She knows my character and who I am. Just as your Ex feels comfortable with you after a divorce. My second wife is Satan herself. (PROJECTION) I did not see this but have paid the price but at least have successfully removed the problem from my life. Am I cautious, yes? Am I wrapped up in what went wrong and what a mistake I made in judgment, no. I am looking for a friend and if she turns out to be more than it should be a mutual arrangement. I don't want anything from anyone I just would like someone to spend time with and maybe share a life long dream of living in the islands. Being able to pursue the water sports I love and enjoy. This may not answer any of your questions but it might let you know I am not carrying baggage, which would prohibit love, friendship with another person. There is no one perfect for any one person. Without flexibility and a willingness to trust it is fruitless to search for someone to hopefully include in your life. Maybe it is too early for you. I don't know, but again I am willing to see if we can be friends.
Now for some other issues you are concerned about. I work for the Army. I have worked for DoD and the Navy during my Fed career. I have twenty-seven years with the Gov't and probably won't remain for 30 years. I can leave when I am fifty-five and that is what I plan to do. Trying to compute and live with a 2% reduction in retirement benefit will not be a deterrent for me leaving. Life is short. Most persons our age are leaving the work place because they understand that fact and realize that when you don't feel good about what you do it is time to move on. (I have reached burnout (but not marrying & defrauding women burnout, huh?)) Adding stress by remaining will take years off my life. I am a very healthy individual at this stage of my life and I would like to enjoy what ever is remaining.
I live about two miles from Old Town off Route One (YEAH IN HIS VAN). So I am close to where you would be staying. It would not matter to me if I lived as far away as Richmond, it would not be a problem getting there to have coffee with you. Face to face puts some things into perspective and allows each to view and chat a little with a person. This is innocent and without commitment. (nice words, innocent & commitment - seducer-speak) I would not be honest if I told you I expected more: I don't. I understand visual acceptance is part of any friendship or relationship. Let's continue with your schedule and see if we can obtain a level worthy of us being just friends. No expectations, just talk. When it is over you can retire to a neutral arena and assess whether you and I can be friends. I will do the same. If that first step turns out to be negative we just thank each other for their time and move on with our lives. I would always wish you the best and know you will find the right person for you. I know I will as well.
My weekend was uneventful but enjoyable. I like down time every so often to reflect on life, direction and remaining within myself. (Troll for my targets at the local internet cafe?) They are huge points, which drive us to our goals. I worked a little more on my purposed contribution to the island I plan to live the reminder of my life on. As you might know, most islands in the Bahamas are close to third world. Meaning there is high unemployment, facilities are in most local areas are substandard, etc. My plan is to make the islanders aware of their responsibility to the island they live on and love. (Because I am the KING of RESPONSIBILITY!! not) Clean beaches. Going to remote locations and actually cleaning them up and making all visitors aware it is their responsibility to pack out what they pack in. Not the case at this present time. I have developed a monthly plan, which is in conjunction with the many churches on the island to clean a beach a month. Have islanders take responsibility for informing those who enjoy the beach >to help clean it. I have enlisted landowners; heavy equipment companies who will act as land fill maintenance or caretakers for covering the trash and refuge we collect as a result of our beach cleaning efforts. If I affect a few it will be doing something very near and dear to my heart.
(None of this was true - and btw, what a control freak! Sounds like a dictator)
Okay, now you have some idea of who and what I plan to do and close to a time frame of when. I am not a churchgoer and have not been for a very long time. (One would hope NOT!) I believe but have not found the right place to practice a religion I can believe in. (the religion of ED, where everything he does is o.k. & wonderful) This is a long story and should be taken as a single issue.
After reading what I have written if you still feel we should meet we have time to match schedules.
You have a great day. I am getting things ready for work tomorrow. I hope your daughter continues to improve so she can get home where I know she would rather be. I am heading to California at some point within the next three weeks. It could be tomorrow or the complete term doctors have estimated for the time and date of birth. I will let you know if any of this effort changes plans we have made.
Take care, Ed
****
From : Charles Hicks
Sent : Tuesday, May 24, 2005 3:53 AM
To : XXXXX (pseudonym used to catch him)
Subject : RE: RE: RE: RE: Thanks for the Wink :)
Hello Sam
You are so right about Eleu and Harbor Island. Riding the golf carts around the island which has a third world feeling about it. It is precisely that feel I like. Given the right kind of transportation (Sailboat), you can visit all of the islands in the Caribbean with very little effort. That has
always been my dream to do just that. Why live in the hustle and bustle of commercial life when you can live on an island you can call home. If persons come to visit, we could take them to one of the more commercial islands but still acquaint them with a new way of life.
I hear an investment company has purchased the resort, which was destroyed several years ago. So there will be more activity on the southern end of the island but still would not affect how we live or where. (In your VAN maybe??)
Think of the diving, snorkeling and kayaking we could do in and around the 10,000 islands and Cays, which make up the Bahamas Islands. That is the allure for me.
You are lucky you can telecommute with your agency. I tried it but they are still in the dark ages with respect to what can be done from home. They are ignoring the mandate to move 30% of all jobs into that arena. Oh well, I will be gone (Hopefully) by the time it sinks in or they are made to participate in a good program of telecommuting. Great for you.
It is not my nature to talk about others to others. I promise not to talk about anything concerning Exs unless there is something specific you want to know. There should never be blame since it takes two to tango. We have a deal.
I have two children as well. My daughter is the oldest. She is pregnant with my first grandchild. She is due around the first week of July. I will be going there for the occasion. She lives in Monterey. The place we moved to the East Coast from.
I lived my childhood in NJ. I went west to college and decided to remain there. I had been west until 3 years ago when I was forced to come East. I am a Mechanical Engineer by academic study. I have served in many capacities through the years. Mostly in the computer side of the house but more recently as the agencies Program Analyst. They need someone to blame if
major projects go wrong.
I will close for now. It is getting late and I want you to get this note before you turn in for bed. That seems important to me right now. There is always tomorrow and I look forward to continuing our conversation than.
Chat with you later. Ed
****
From : Charles Hicks
Sent : Tuesday, May 24, 2005 2:45 AM
To : XXXX (pseudonym used to catch him)
Subject : RE: RE: Thanks for the Wink :)
Hi Samantha
Are you too good to be true? (GAG!!) I just joined the service and with what I wanted in my life it seemed a long shot to find someone interested in water, beaches and the Caribbean. Your profile speaks to me in a way no other has. Your interests are so similar to mine. If you add windsurfing and there would be an identical match. Believe me that is not a showstopper as far as I am concerned. As I see it, all we have to do from here is to feel our hearts jump out of our chests when we first meet. I am not into beauty contestants so I don't feel as though looks will be a problem. (as long as you have money and are a smart trusting woman I can fleece) I am a very relaxed person. I do not get upset very easily. As my kids tell me, "I have never gotten mad at them but have been disappointed at times." They know they can come to me no matter what the situation. (IF THEY CAN FIND YOU!!) If things get heated it only lasts about 10 minutes and than life gets back to normal. I don't carry things on for days. Everyone has to move on and that is hard to do if a person remains in the past. (And bothers to get a divorce or 6...)
I have been scuba diving since the mid 70's. I have had meaningful chats with Jacque Cousteau and his son on a couple occasions. Did you know Jacque and his oldest son lived on Eleuthera? (NAME DROPPING!! more Seducer-Speak) When you were there, did you visit the deep hole? Cousteau had a 1-hour special about that body of water on Eleuthera.
Okay, back to you and I. It is highly unusual to find anyone who has been to Eleu. The island is very remote for most tourists. North Eleu is the tourist spot but you need to travel by boat to get to the main island. I am still pinching myself - (are you sure you are not my EX and are playing games?) What a selfish person she was and would do anything to thwart my efforts to
find someone who is down to earth and real. Okay, enough of that talk. Don't worry; I am not carrying any baggage where she is concerned. Life is so much more relaxing now. (At this point Sandra Hicks hadn't filed her charges, Julie Hicks hadn't filed and Tom Jackman was about to make him 'infamous' in the Washington Post) (THWART YOUR EFFORTS? excuse me, you are a multiple bigamist!!)
I see you live in Richmond. Have you lived there all your life or other locations? You sound more like a California girl. (I hope you do not mind me referring to you as a girl. If you do just say so and I will change. I moved here from California. To date I viewed it as a mistake. I was site
manager for a division whose headquarters was located in Wash DC. They closed my location and I had to move to the DC area or lose all retirement benefits. Well, you know the answer to that. I moved. I am a late person as well and rarely get to bed before mid-night. So, if you write back I will get your responses.
To answer your question about St. Maarten; no I have never been there but is probably very interesting as many of the Caribbean Islands are. They are still governed by the Dutch, arent they? I would have to read their retirement policy and what their tax structure is to understand how they view persons who relocate. Seems you made a good decision to move from here. I dont like the direction the US is heading.
If I did not say it in my profile, I am a Program/Management Analyst.
Chat with you later, Ed
(Ed Hicks receives this site's first WORD SALAD GOLDEN SHOVEL AWARD - site owner)
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