Chief Halphen and the Cucumber Guy

I promised myself that I would not blog about this story, and I had no desire to do so.
I'm speaking, of course, about the, ummm, cucumber guy. You know, the one who paid teenage boys and crackheads to stick cucumbers, well, this is embarassing, where the sun don't shine. The Times reported that Thomas Smith Jr. used money to entice the 16-year-olds into his home and have them stick objects, such as cucumbers and sex toys, into his rectum. He paid them $20 for each occurrence, the most recent about a month ago.
I promised not to blog about it until I read some comments by Bossier Police Chief Halphen that I thought were a little strange.
Chief Halphen said “It’s very disturbing, so easy to influence a child to do something." Okay so far.
"In their minds, they felt like they weren’t doing anything wrong.”
The chief also said "Adults, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. If it happened to you when you were younger come forward let us know."
Back up (pardon the expression).
In their minds they felt like they weren't doing anything wrong. Wait a minute. Sixteen year old boys don't think that there is anything wrong with taking $20 to stick a cucumber up some old man's booty? I think they knew.
Adults, if you did this when you were younger there is nothing to be embarrassed about. Again, ask yourself - if a 75 year old pervert asked you to stick cucumbers up his booty when you were 16 years old would you feel like you weren't doing anything wrong? Would you think it was nothing to be embarrassed about?
The arrest was a good one and they even got a confession. I am just puzzled at the chief saying it's 'nothing to be embarrassed about'. I think it is.
I'm also puzzled at his saying they felt like they weren't doing anything wrong. I think they knew.
They are not criminally liable for anything, and shouldn't be. But I honestly hope that they do feel some embarrassment. It's a shame if they don't.
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