Politicians and those in the public arena tend to come under greater scrutiny for their sexual escapades, as the entire country has seen thanks to the actions of John Edwards and Anthony Weiner. However, both of those men were Democrats, and they were part of scandals that barely count as scandalous compared to the common behaviors of most Americans. However, there are plenty of liberal-leaning individuals who tend to think the far-right have many more skeletons in their closets. In particular, the Tea Party movement has attracted a lot of attention from liberals who believe those staunch conservatives are hiding more than they would like anyone to believe.
While it is dangerous to paint an entire group of people with a broad brush, the Democratic party has no problem calling out offenders on the opposite side of the aisle when their offenses are made clear. This was the case for a recent Tea Party leader by the name of Christian Philip Hine. The 38-year-old was formerly one of the most prominent leaders in the North Carolina Tea Party movement, but he is currently serving time in prison for some heinous acts. Hine was charged and convicted of 10 felony counts that all involved either the possession, production, or distribution of child pornography.
State police first entered the home of Christian Hine in June of 2015, and upon entry they immediately seized his electronic devices, including his computer, tablet, and phone. He was arrested and charged with 20 separate counts of criminal sexual exploitation of a child or children. Hine, who suffers from a mild form of autism, told the authorities that his addiction was the result of his autistic development and that he had no control over it. He even went so far as to use the phrase ‘self medicate’ when referring to his illicit activities.
Police started their investigation for online child pornography in Florence, but the investigation quickly spread to York County. Investigators claim to have uncovered over 700 images containing child pornography, and they claimed those images had been shared through the internet several thousands times over a period of more than 10 years. The investigation focused on a service known as E-Mule, a sort of digital smuggling software.
While police maintain they collected over 700 images, Hine’s lawyer contends it could have only been about 250 images, but certainly no more than 350. They also admitted to Hine’s porn addiction, yet they continued to use Hine’s autism diagnosis as the basis for his actions. They wrote that his condition forced him to have problems communicating, although it is difficult to see the connection between the two issues. The lawyers admitted that Hine started by first seeking images of teens instead of adults like himself, which eventually led to deeper desires on his part.
The North Carolina Tea Party saw a drastic hit to their reputation when the truth about Hine came to light. Hine was deeply integral to their organization, and he was the president of the Tea Party group in Charlotte for many years. His stance is deeply anti-tax, anti-Obamacare, and anti-large government in general.
Perhaps the most astonishing aspect of this story is the sentence that Hine will serve for his horrific crimes. The man will only be forced to serve two years in a correctional facility, with an additional eight years under suspension. He will be forced to register as a sex offender when he is released, and he will have to undergo probation for three years once he has returned to society.
The strange thing about all this is that the story broke at roughly the same time as the recent news regarding the newest sex scandal with Anthony Weiner, a congressman from New York. That story was plastered all over the news despite no criminal activity, yet most haven’t even heard about Chris Hine and his child porn scandal.