California- The former Department of Motor Vehicles worker convicted of fondling 14 young girls during their behind-the-wheel permit tests ruined a paramount rite of passage for his victims and used his job as license to satisfy his “own personal sexual gratification,” according to the prosecutor pushing for a maximum sentence yesterday.

However, Calvin Hoang Cat, 38, told a probation officer and defense-retained psychiatrist that a 1987 auto accident left him fearful of dying and affected his behavior as a car passenger.

The excuse did little to sway Judge Joseph Gruber who sentenced Cat to shy of the two-year maximum for lewd behavior against 14 minor females who took tests at the Redwood City branch of DMV. The first girl who alerted police to Cat spoke in court prior to sentencing, outlining how initial nervousness at taking her test quickly gave way to shock, confusion, embarrassment and shame.

During the sentencing, Cat stood quietly next to his attorney and made occasional glances toward the victim speaking. Over defense objections, Cat was immediately handcuffed and taken away to begin serving his 515-day sentence in the county jail.

After serving a “substantial” portion of his sentence, Cat can apply for a work furlough program, Gruber decided. Cat must also register as a sex offender, complete a treatment program and spend five years on supervised probation.

Cat, whose wife works as a DMV supervisor, wanted time to make transportation and living arrangements for his family but Gruber declined. Gruber did alter probation restrictions prohibiting Cat from being around minors because he has two teenaged children.

Defense attorney Craig Brown made little excuse in court for his client’s actions but said it’s important to note the “internal struggle by Mr. Cat to come to grips” with what he did.

Cat pleaded no contest in June to 29 misdemeanor charges of molestation and sexual battery between July 8 and Sept. 7, 2004. If convicted by a jury, Cat faced up to a year in county jail per charge although it is nearly impossible to serve that long at a local correctional facility. Each charge is a misdemeanor because the touching did not involve skin-to-skin contact.

Although the charges were not felonies, the incidents were no less damaging to Cat’s young victims.

“I felt violated and hurt by Mr. Cat’s inappropriate touching,” one victim testified.

With her emotional parents watching, the girl recalled her test-taking experience from not understanding why the girl Cat tested before her left with tears in her eyes to finding the DMV locked when she tried to contact a manager.

Like many of the victims, the girl said Cat asked her to park the car next to the curb without touching it. When he claimed she failed, he asked her to lean over his lap to better see the right view mirror.

“I felt uneasy as I leaned over but at the same time I really wanted to get my license as most 16-year-olds do,” she remembered.

Cat touched the girl’s hip and breast before taking her back to DMV and failing her. Afterward, she said she was hesitant to tell others what happened because she didn’t want them to think she was simply excusing away her failure.

Press coverage of the police investigation against Cat and his arrest led to the 13 other girls coming forward.

The growing number of victims is “proof positive that the touching was not a figment of a teenager’s overactive imagination,” prosecutor Donna Provenzano said yesterday.

In his probation report, Cat references his own “evil unforgivable behavior” and wonders if he is “a sick person or not.” However, the report notes Cat’s apparent lack of remorse and his excuses that the awkward touching was caused by his keeping a clipboard close to his chest during the test.

The DMV first placed Cat on leave but terminated his employment Nov. 19 after conducting its own internal investigation. Meanwhile, seven of the girls have filed a civil lawsuit against Cat, the DMV and the state of California. Typically, only felony convictions can be used as evidence in civil cases but civil attorney Don Galine hopes the great number of misdemeanors may be admissible.