Former State Sen. Ralph Shortey Jailed For Child Sex Trafficking

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Ralph Shortey, a former Republican state senator in Oklahoma, was sentenced on Monday for child sex trafficking.

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — Former Republican state Sen. Ralph Shortey has been sentenced to 15 years in prison on Monday for child sex trafficking. The sentencing comes following Shortey's guilty plea last fall.

In March 2017, police in Moore, a suburb of Oklahoma City, found Shortey, then 35, in a motel room with a boy, then 17. Police said they smelled marijuana coming from the room at the Super 8 motel.

Shortey and the boy met over the internet through a personal ad. Prosecutors said Shortey posted on Craigslist that he was "looking for a boy." He also said he was a "daddy type" and "would love to have a boy to play with," according to KFOR. Court documents say they had sex at least twice.

The boy had told Shortey he needed money for spring break. Shortey replied, offering cash for "sexual stuff." Court documents also say the teen had sex with Shortey in exchange for drugs, KFOR reports.

Shortey, a married father of four, resigned later that month.

Shortey is believed to have offered for the teen to "play around with his wife while he watched," KFOR reports, which is what documents say the boy initially thought was going to happen.

After being detained, the former lawmaker initially told police he had taken an interest in the boy's education. He told detectives the boy had contacted him in distress at a friend's house and needed to leave because they were doing drugs.

Prosecutors said the incident left the boy with "...feelings of isolation, fear of adults and strangers, helplessness, anxiety, depression, and nightmares."

He was also accused of producing child pornography, according to the Associated Press, but those three charges were dropped as a part of his plea deal. In addition to his 15 years in prison, Shortey will serve 10 years of probation afterwards.

Shortey will also have to pay a fine, NBC reported, of up to $250,000.

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Top photo: Former two-term Republican state Sen. Ralph Shortey, left, arrives at the federal courthouse in Oklahoma City, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, with his attorney, Ed Blau, right, to plead guilty to a federal charge of child sex trafficking. Shortey resigned in March after he was arrested on state charges of engaging in child prostitution and transporting a minor for prostitution. Police found Shortey with a 17-year-old boy in a motel room and alleged he had hired the boy for sex. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)