WEST HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Lancaster County — A 47-year-old West Hempfield Township man is facing several charges after paying a teen-aged boy to tie him up, hit him, cut him, and burn him for sexual pleasure over a two-year span, according to a criminal complaint.
Donald R. Rhinehart III, is also accused of asking the boy to provide nude photos and participate in sexual acts. The boy reportedly told police he refused both requests, the criminal complaint states.
Rhinehart is charged with unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors, intimidation of a victim or witness, child pornography, harassment and soliciation-sexual abuse and soliciation-involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, according to the criminal complaint.
Police were alerted to the case in May, when the Manheim Township boy’s mother reported the relationship between Rhinehart and her son. The mother said her son had been communicating with Rhinehart via text message, and that she did not want Rhinehart to have any further contact with her son.
Manheim Township police went to Rhinehart and told him he was not to have any further contact with the boy, and he agreed, the criminal complaint says.
But in June, the mother contacted Manheim Township police again and said Rhinehart and the boy were still communicating via text message. She discovered the texts while reviewing her son’s phone messages. She provided copies of the messages to police, the criminal complaint says.
In the messages, Rhinehart wrote “ILU with all my heart,” wrote messages referring to being hit and burned, and wrote he was “proud and honored to have scars from the punishment,” according to police.
Police interviewed the boy in August. The teen told police that Rhinehart paid him to tie Rhinehart to a bed and hit him with a stick. He also said he tied Rhinehart to a chair and dumped water on him, cut him with a box opener, and burned him with metal, according to police.
Rhinehart told the boy that these acts turned him on sexually, the boy told police.
The teen told police that he and Rhinehart used several text-messaging applications and a series of false names so that the boy’s mother would not discover their continued contact, the criminal complaint says. The boy also told police he had told Rhinehart several times that he no longer wished to communicate with Rhinehart, but the man would manipulate him into further conversations, police say.
Once the teen’s mother got police involved, Rhinehart allegedly told the boy not to talk to authorities, the criminal complaint says. He also allegedly contacted the teen’s mother and told him the investigation was ruining the lives of both he and the boy and agreed to stop communicating with the teen if she agreed to drop the complaint to police, the criminal complaint said.
Manheim Township and West Hempfield Township police filed the charges against Rhinehart, the criminal complaint says.
