Kentucky "politician" arrested for jokingly soliciting a minor

Kentucky’s pretty hilarious, for a variety of reasons. Today’s example: arresting a man for offering a pig in exchange for two underaged girls.

Hensley, who earned notoriety for oddball antics as a longshot gubernatorial candidate, spent three days in jail in this eastern Kentucky coal town last week after being arrested over the wisecrack.

“Jay Leno makes jokes every night and makes millions,” Hensley said in his thick Appalachian accent. “I make one joke and go to jail.”

He could have faced as many as 10 years in prison, but a charge of attempted unlawful transaction with a minor was dismissed on Monday.

The ordeal began last week when Hensley’s wife sent him to a local grocery store to buy ground beef. While there, Hensley encountered a woman with her two nieces, ages 11 and 13. “I offered to trade her a fattening hog for those girls,” Hensley said. “I meant it as a joke. I’ve said it a million times. Most people get a kick out of it.”

The woman didn’t laugh. Instead, the family obtained a warrant for Hensley’s arrest from the local prosecutor, claiming the comment was intended to entice the children into illegal sexual activity.

On Tuesday, the girls’ father accepted an apology from Hensley and shook hands with him in a Harlan County courtroom. The man declined to discuss the case with reporters afterward.

Prosecutor J.D. Smith asked the judge to dismiss the charge, saying both sides want to put the matter behind them.

“He absolutely meant no harm,” Smith said of Hensley. “It was a joke to him.”

Well, I could see how that would offend a mother. Her brother probably made a more reasonable offer of two pigs, a cow, and the Betamax Hee Haw collection for the girls. Hensley just needs to understand economics a little better. Though I’m not sure how that offer of a “fattening hog” would be “enticing” the two little girls. Here I was, thinking that candy, Webkinz, and the power of positive thinking would be enticing and all I needed was a fattening hog. The more you know.

The dude’s not really a politician just for the record, more like a local kook who happened to run for office. Then again, with his pro-pig. pro-minor policies, he may be able to make a major run at office again. Those kind of down-home ideals really appeal to Southerners.

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