Professor offers tank of gas for sex to undercover cop on Grindr, Missouri police say

A longtime Missouri professor is accused offering an undercover cop a tank of gas in exchange for sex, media outlets report.

Barry Cole Poyner, a communications professor at Truman State University, is charged with misdemeanor patronizing prostitution, court records show.

Kirksville cops started the undercover investigation after university police received complaints that Poyner was harassing students on Grinder by offering to pay for sex, KHQA reported. Grindr is a social networking and dating app geared toward gay, bisexual and transsexual people.

A police officer created a profile on the Grindr posing an 18-year-old man, KYOU reported.

Poyner told the undercover officer that he wanted a “sugar daddy relationship,” the Kirksville Daily Express reported.

In early December, he sent messages promising that to fill up a tank of gas in exchange for sex and “might throw in an Arby’s card LOL,” the newspaper reported.

When Poyner got to the gas station, police officers were waiting for him, KHQA reported. Poyner drove away but the officers pulled him over and asked him about the messages, the Hannibal TV station reported.

When a police officer advised him against offering money for sex, Poyner said that he was “trying to help,” the Kirksville Daily Express reported.

Poyner, a professor at Truman for almost 30 years and an elder at Kirksville Church of Christ, has been suspended by the university, KYOU reported.

“The University is aware of the situation regarding Barry Poyner,” wrote in a statement to the Truman Media Network, a student publication. “He has been placed on suspension and informed that he is not allowed on campus, cannot have any contact with student organizations or participate in any campus events or activities.”