Brandon Guffey

And his mom is wonderful.

His dad is wonderful.

And they're very helpful in helping him through this.

He's got great lawyers in Chicago.

How did Roblox pop up on your radar?

My partner at True Blue, Sean Reck, had a son who was right in the midst of this.

And his son was approached in an inappropriate way and told his dad.

And he also saw how much money was being spent on games and Roblox, which is the currency on Roblox.

Now here's Manning Kimmel broadcasting live from Substation 2 on Cherry Road in Rock Hill with Straight Talk, selected by the South Carolina Broadcasters Association as the state's top public affairs program.

and a good afternoon welcome into substation two cherry road across from winter for another edition of our straight talk program presented by founders federal credit union relax you're with founders our thanks to our co-sponsor today caporium making life easier that's why we're here and people medical network a community built on care you can find out more about them online at piedmontmedicalnetwork.com so the first half of our show we're going to devote to the very charismatic the one and the only the man the myth the legend nah you're not all that stuff His name is Brandon Guffey, and he, of course, is running for re-election to Statehouse No. 48 for what's this, the third term?

This will be my third term I'm asking for.

Okay.

That would be nice if I could afford a boat.

Legislature doesn't pay enough for that.

Okay, so we're going to devote most of this show to his re-election, but then the back part of it we're going to devote to something really special beyond his campaign, which is a new book that has your name on it, Brandon Guffey.

How about that?

Our citizens should know about.

And that's why instead of doing an email or a letter that goes out that will catch in your spam email box, Manning – And myself and partner with Representative Brandon Guffey, we do a weekly podcast called Pints and Politics.

And literally we sit down and have a candid, transparent conversation about our week in state government.

And that's just a demonstration in an effort to let voters know what we're working on and what our priorities are, because we got a lot coming at us and every week it changes.

World's Harrison Waters has the story.

After Brandon Guffey heard a gunshot from a bedroom in his house, he made a horrifying discovery.

His seventeen-year-old son had taken his own life.

Figuring out why took longer.

We've moved west over the years.

You know, I used to have some of Lake Wylie and some of Rock Hill, but, uh, Brandon Guffey keeps pushing me west.

[laughs]

I'll be over there in Cherokee with Dennis Smalls-

[gentle music] Late one night in 2022, 17-year-old Gavin Guffey was alone in his bedroom playing video games online with friends.

His father, Brandon, who was running for state representative, was just getting home.

I came in from a political event right around midnight that night, and I could hear Gavin on his video game with friends.

I had been playing video games with him that night.

It was just a way of remembering.

You can see there's some that are holding up well.

In the case of Gavin Guffey's death, Gavin's father, Brandon, says the alleged scammer continued targeting his family for days after the suicide.

This actually was something Gavin painted.

Out, Stand Out.

I'm your host, Elizabeth Green, and today's guest is South Carolina State Representative Brandon Guffey.

And before we dive in today, I just want to put a trigger warning out there that we are talking about difficult things today, including losing a child by suicide and the crime of sextortion.

So if you are listening to this with little ears around, I suggest you pause it, but please do come back.

Yes.

And the third co-founder is Brandon Guffey, who's a Republican out of Rock Hill, South Carolina.

And his story has been immensely powerful.

He's been a big tech online safety advocate.