VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Single mothers, former drug addicts and other beaten down young women who came to wealthy businessman Henry Allen Fitzsimmons for a chance to climb out of their financial hole knew his help came with a catch. In exchange for an allowance, a place to live and promise of a college education, they agreed to be spanked if they broke his rules.

At least six of the women say he his corporal punishment went too far, including one who says he sexually assaulted her, and the 54-year-old Virginia Beach restaurant owner faces felony charges.

"These women are victims. They're single moms. They need their bills paid," prosecutor Tom Murphy said at a court hearing Thursday. "It's bizarre, there's no doubt."

Fitzsimmons' attorney claims his slight, white-haired client is the victim, taken advantage of by women half his age who knew what they were getting into and filed charges only after a falling out.

"He's not a danger," Fitzsimmons' attorney, Moody "Sonny" Stallings Jr., told the AP. "Strange, but he's not a danger to anybody."

A judge on Thursday allowed a grand jury to decide whether to indict Fitzsimmons on two felony abduction charges and three felony object sexual penetration charges filed against him. Six other assault and sexual battery charges were dropped because prosecutors acknowledged the women had agreed to the spankings.

For months, Fitzsimmons gave each of the women $200 weekly, promised to pay for their college tuition, treated them to lavish nights on the town and even bought one a car as part of his so-called Spencer Scholarship Plan. They were spanked if they violated rules, such as failing to call Fitzsimmons or drinking alcohol.

Several websites, including one run by Fitzsimmons, tout the Spencer plan and the scholarship program, which provides full tuition, room and board in addition to an allowance for participants as long as they follow the plan.

It is unclear how many women have participated in Fitzsimmons' program. The six women who filed the criminal complaints had all been members, but Fitzsimmons' attorney said there have been several others.

The Spencer Plan started in the 1930s as a form of "carefully regulated corporal punishment" between husband and wife. They agreed to a list of things the wife needed to change, such as not spending money frivolously. If the rules were broken, the husband punished her by spanking and it was put behind them. It has expanded through the years.

One 21-year-old woman testified Thursday that the day she joined Fitzsimmons' program in November, he spanked her and gave her $300. He paid for her to live in an oceanfront suite and gave her a $200 weekly allowance. In return, she was required to walk 20 blocks each day, keep a log of her meals and spending and refrain from drugs. When she didn't, she was spanked.

Fitzsimmons took it further, she said, when on three occasions he sexually assaulted her with a curtain rod, a hairbrush and a horse riding crop. When asked by attorneys why she allowed it to happen, she replied: "I'm not allowed to tell him no."

The Associated Press does not identify those who say they were sexually assaulted.

Another 22-year-old woman said she thought the program was an amazing opportunity. She had only been spanked once before she went to him in January to discuss him paying for her 3-year-old child's birthday party. She said he refused to let her leave until she let him spank her.

She and others said they feared Fitzsimmons, who walks with a limp. They say he made vague threats and convinced them they couldn't make it without him.

"He terrorized my life," one woman said. "He took me away from all my friends and family and convinced me nobody loved me but him."

None of the women filed charges until Fitzsimmons in April accused one of them of stealing money and fired her from his restaurant, the oceanside Envy Bar and Grill, where many of them worked. A week later, six women began filing charges. On Thursday, that former employee's complaint was dropped, along with those of two other women whose only complaints were that they had been spanked.

"Who's the victim here?" Stalling asked in court. "They were taking the money and all of a sudden when the mother gets fired they all run down to the police station and want to file charges."

Fitzsimmons came to Virginia Beach last year from Minnesota, but much of his past is a mystery. He has a master's in business administration, but his much of his attention is spent counseling young women and helping those in need, friends said.

Terry Schantz and his girlfriend are helping run Fitzsimmons' bar since he was arrested in April and denied bond. He said Fitzsimmons was a generous and caring man who would buy groceries for those in need or find the homeless a place to live. He said he can't imagine Fitzsimmons being violent.

Stallings admits the case is strange but says Fitzsimmons is no predator.

"They're trying to say he preys on these women," he said. "These aren't 15-years-olds. These are all adults and they're getting the money from this old guy."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/19/va-businessmans-spankings-lead-charges/?test=latestnews

I don't even know what to say about this...........

'consenting adults'

what else is there to say


read the contract if there was one, and go from there,,,

You cant enter into a contract like that. You are consenting to corporal punishment which is against the law. A contract cant be legal if there are crimes in it.

spanking children isnt illegal, so I doubt spanking an adult(With consent) is either

It is considered battery.

no,, BATTERY is considered BATTERY

spanking is spanking, unless it elevates to ABUSE, which is usually determined by CPS

consent to certain physical 'harm' is defense to that harm being criminal,, which explains how we can have a sport called BOXING

a contract is a contract, spanking is not corporal punishment

Any touching including spitting can be considdered battery.

It can be considered that.

Contracts that have illegal activities, actions or could be considered illegal wouldn't hold up in court.

CAN be, not must be or will be

Whoa..ok before everyone goes bonkers over this, you have to look at the situation from different angles

1) the story: People are focusing on the spanking,did anyone else notice the charges included sexual assault and abduction?...your not getting the whole story,there's more going on then just corporal punishment.

2) the state: you have to look at the state and the laws that pertain to that state..what may be considered coroporal punishment in one state may be considered 4th degree assault in another.

3)wether or not a crime was commited:
A) if a crime was committed: it is illegal to make a contract that stipulates coersion or manipulation and/or blackmail in it..just because you sign a contract doesn't mean its legallt binding..the court can throw it out.

B)if a crime had not been commited: it is not illegal to spank a consenting adult but ifobjects were used without consent,that's illegal. If the women allowed him liberties in exchange for money,favors,constution..that is prostitution which is illegal |

A. Any person who, for money or its equivalent, commits adultery, fornication or any act in violation of § 18.2-361, or offers to commit adultery, fornication or any act in violation of § 18.2-361 and thereafter does any substantial act in furtherance thereof, shall be guilty of being a prostitute, or prostitution, which shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.

virginia statute on prostitution


what constitutes an 'equivalent' is undetermined, since, technically, most women feel free to consent to sex for what ever reason they wish, as long as money isnt actually exchanged,,

so if i have sex with my gf(don't have one yet),and gave her money after sex to go get her some food,thats prostitution?wow so i have been a pimp a few times and didn't even realize it

yeah, thats a slippery slope, I think its written that way to give a huge GREY area for case by case interpretation



some women have sex to feel loved, but others do indeed exchange their body because of the THINGS the other adult consents to do for or buy them,,,

These women knew what they were doing! now they feel ashamed or whatever and want reparations I'M SUIN'!

Probably some extortion in there too "gives us more money or WE'RE SUIN'!"

IM tending to think the same , if it was not done under threat of physical harm and they were free to leave at any time,, I dont see how such a claim of offense can be held against another 'willing' participant who would never have known otherwise,,

this thread cracks me up!

When you make a deal with the devil....he will expect you to pay up!

Those girls even signed a contract & whether it is legal or not...they still took his money and knew what he wanted to do to them. Now they wanna cry because their Sugar Daddy was too rough?

point taken, if they accepted MONEY for something illegal, wouldnt that make THEM guilty of a crime as well?

he should have known better, thinking that women won't lie...i'm sure they all were using each other. but, too bad for him, the women have the upper hand here.