Emails shared with The Indianapolis Star suggest that REPUBLICAN state
Rep. Phillip Hinkle -- responding to a local posting on Craigslist --
offered a young man $80 plus tip to spend time with him Saturday night
at the JW Marriott hotel.

The emails, sent from Hinkle's publicly listed personal address, ask the
young man for "a couple hours of your time tonight" and offer him cash
up front, with a tip of up to $50 or $60 "for a really good time."

The email exchange is in response to the Craigslist posting in which the
young man -- who lists his age as 20 in the ad but says he is 18 years
old -- says, "I need a sugga daddy."

The young man told The Star that they met, but that he tried to leave
after the man told him he was a state lawmaker. He said the lawmaker at
first told him he could not leave, grabbed him in the rear, exposed
himself to the young man and then later gave him an iPad, BlackBerry
cellphone and $100 cash to keep quiet.

When contacted by The Star about the emails, Hinkle, a Republican who
represents portions of Pike and Wayne townships, did not contest the
emails but said, "I am aware of a shakedown taking place."

Asked what he meant by shakedown, Hinkle would not elaborate. He
directed further questions to his attorney.

Hinkle's lawyer, defense attorney Peter Nugent, said he was unable to
say what Hinkle meant by a "shakedown." Nugent said he is investigating
the situation, but he does not know what happened Saturday. Nugent said
he has not filed a police report and does not yet know whether he will.

Asked whether he had seen the emails and the Craigslist posting, Nugent
said, "Oh, I've seen some emails, but not all of them." He would not be
more specific.

"I'm trying to get to the bottom of everything involved," Nugent said.

Wednesday, Nugent faxed this "official statement":

"Representative Hinkle is aware of the inquiries by The Indianapolis
Star and we are investigating the matter at this time. We request that
everyone respect the privacy of the family at this time."

Hinkle, 64, who lists his occupation as coordinator for community
partnerships for Wayne Township Schools on the Indiana House website,
has been a state lawmaker since 2000. He is best known in the Statehouse
for his interest in local government issues. On the website, he also
notes he was a co-author of the bill that created the "In God We Trust"
license plate.

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Those pesky Republicans...this one is another of those pesky GOP
anti-gay crusaders.

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