A 39-year-old Thousand Oaks man has been arrested for reportedly paying teens to spit in his face, slap him and yell profanities at him, a spokesman for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department said today.

Charles Hersel, who was arrested on child annoyance charges and released on his own recognizance, reportedly sought out young male Westlake High School students on the MySpace social networking website, said Capt. Frank O’Hanlon.

“It didn’t take long for word to spread among local teens that they could get paid to spit in a man’s face,” O’Hanlon said.

Teens also reported that Hersel asked them to urinate and defecate on him. He was arrested Wednesday after an undercover sting operation at the Westlake Promenade mall, where he paid a teen $31 to spit in his face.

-- Seema Mehta

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