Murphy – Kids in single-parent households are more prone to emotional distress, negative behavior, delinquency and drug use, according to researchers who say children in such homes are twice as likely to develop psychiatric problems and addictions later in life than those in two-parent families.
This was the case for Bryce Alan Honea, 34, whose father left his mother when she was pregnant.
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“Bryce growed up (sic) wondering about his dad that he never met, and as the years went on he started getting very depressed, causing him to turn to alcohol, and that’s when his life started going downhill,” his mother, Melinda Beaver, wrote in a letter to the court seeking leniency during sentencing.
“I know he needs to be punished, I’m just asking you to take in consideration the depression that Bryce has been through his whole life.”
His depression eventually led to drug addiction, which evolved into something worse, according to federal court documents that say Honea told authorities he had “essentially replaced methamphetamine use with child pornography.”
Honea offered 595 child pornography images on a peer to peer network for others to download in July 2018, according to court documents that say Cherokee County authorities were monitoring the illegal activity, which originated from an internet protocol address on Pet Lane Road. Police raided the property in February 2019, seizing digital devices that contained 183 child porn images.
However, Honea continued to collect child pornography after the raid, as detectives delayed his arrest to investigate potential new evidence that had come to light. In June 2020, authorities seized additional devices from Honea and found more than 246 child porn images.
Honea pled guilty to possessing and distributing sexually explicit images of minors last year. On
June 17, a judge sentenced him to serve seven years and eight months in prison, with a lifetime
of supervision upon his release from incarceration.
Honea must also register as a sex offender, plus participate in a mental health evaluation and treatment program.
“I feel if he were to be put on some type of antidepressant medication it would help him to be a better person,” Honea’s sister, Tiffany Holderfield, wrote in a letter to the court.
“I believe his depression is what led him to drinking so much, and it got worse from there when he met the mother of his daughter who was on meth.”
Honea has fathered two children of his own, both of whom today are being raised without at least one of their biological parents.