What on Earth were these people thinking? A Missouri mother had her 6-year-old son faux abducted by a coworker of the child’s aunt as a way to teach the boy a powerful lesson about the potential perils of stranger danger. 

From NBC News: 

A 6-year-old Missouri boy was led to believe he'd been kidnapped, shown a gun, and threatened with being sold into "sex slavery" -- and it was all part of an alleged plot to teach the boy a lesson because he was "too nice" to strangers, authorities said. 

[snip]

On Monday, Firoved allegedly kidnapped the child after he got off a school bus and said he would never "see his mommy again," authorities said. Firoved also showed a handgun to the now-sobbing boy, then drove around in his truck, and finally tied him up and covered his face with a jacket when the child wouldn't stop crying.

The blindfolded child was then taken to family's home, put in the basement, and his aunt allegedly removed the child's pants and told him he could be sold into "sex slavery," the sheriff's office said. The boy was eventually led upstairs and lectured about the dangers strangers could pose. 

Okay, I realize using NBC as a source probably has some wondering if this story is in fact true. And that would be understandable given the growing firestorm surrounding Brian Williams coupled with past NBC scandals such as the selective editing of the 911 tape in the George Zimmerman case. But I did check around and there are several other outlets running the story, including Fox News.

That said, I must admit it is pretty hard to believe that a family would engage in such horrifying teaching methods as a means to stop their child from being “too nice” to strangers.  A “teaching” method Democrats would surely label as torture if used to interrogate hardened Islamic terrorists, so subjecting a 6-year-old to it is totally beyond belief. Fortunately, it does appear that those involved are unlikely to escape punishment for this truly evil scheme.

All four were charged Thursday with felony kidnapping and child abuse, and were being held in lieu of $250,000 bail, according to police and court records. Firoved, Brewer and Kroutil were also charged with felonious restraint. Court records online did not list attorneys for any of the four. Attempts to contact family members were unsuccessful.

I’m certainly not a psychologist, but it’s hard to imagine that the trauma this poor child experienced during the “kidnapping” wouldn’t cause some kind of lingering PTSD-type of psychological damage. Let’s hope it doesn’t. 

By the way, I can’t help but wonder if Brian Williams misremembers a similar type of traumatic event happening to him way back when he was a young lad.  If so, he could add it to the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious resume he’s already concocted for himself. 

Scott blogs at www.politiseeds.com