Tobacco for Spanking

This one sounds like something made up for a really poor television plot. It happened in Lexington, SC.

Terrence Bryant, a fifty year old man is accused of giving cigarettes to minors. So far, not earth shaking. The disgusting twist is that he traded the smokes for participation in his own strange sexual “game.” The man was arrested for lewd behavior with a minor because he offered cigarettes if the boys would let him spank them.

That’s right. Spank them. No nudity, but spanking while clothed in the parking lot of the convenience store where Mr. Bryant worked.

The story came out (and the arrest as well) when one of the victims (12) was caught by a parent with a package of Newports. He confessed and subsequently, other incidents emerged. Two 15 year old boys were victimized in the same manner earlier in the month. The 12 year old reported this wasn’t the first time either – this barter had happened five other times as well.

This is a hard story to get your head around. If the charges are true, the man certainly has a very odd problem, and the immediate thought is what happens if this escalates and clothed spanking no longer satisfies him. It’s almost too weird and disgusting to contemplate.

Predators are known for offering gifts to get contact with underage victims. How odd that the appropriate gift for a 12 year old should be cigarettes. There's a logic to it though. After all tobacco is a forbidden item for minors.

The maximum penalty for each instance is 15 years in prison. Should he get that or treatment? Would treatment help him? What about being labeled as a sexual deviant? Certainly we’d want to keep him away from young boys.

There is no comment on what the boys thought about all this. They got their tobacco. Were they also damaged by this incident? Perhaps the only sure thing is that a court (and a psychiatrist) needs to take a long, hard look into the matter. Not an enviable job when you have to deal with this kind of bizarre.