Now Here's a Guy Who Ought to Be Put Away!

[Ralph]

'12-year-old' is 29-year-old sex offender

PHOENIX, Arizona (AP) -- A charter school alerted authorities to a 29-year-old sex offender who tried to enroll there, pretending he was just 12, in what sheriff's officials said Friday may have been an attempt to lure children into sexual abuse.

The Yavapai County sheriff's office also said Neil Havens Rodreick II conned two men he was living with and having sex with into believing he was a young boy.

One of them, 61-year-old Lonnie Stiffler, called himself Rodreick's grandfather when he tried to enroll him at Mingus Springs Charter School as "Casey Price."

"This is the weirdest case I've seen in 18 years," sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Quayle said. "If it wasn't so sad it would be funny."

A total of four men were in custody in the case Friday on various charges, including fraud, forgery, identity theft and failure to register as a sex offender.

Officials at the charter school in Chino Valley, about 90 miles northwest of Phoenix, told deputies that papers the "grandfather" presented appeared to be fake and that the "boy" looked much older than 12.

Stiffler and Robert James Snow, 43, "were very upset when the detectives told them they had been having a sexual relationship with a 29-year-old man and not a pre-teen boy," Quayle said.

Detectives have evidence that Stiffler and Snow enrolled Rodreick in other Arizona schools, and have notified law enforcement in those jurisdictions, Quayle said.

It was unclear whether Rodreick had actually attended any schools, but Quayle said, "I think what we're looking at is that he's being used to troll for other kids."

She said detectives learned in interviews with the men that Rodreick convinced Stiffler and Snow that he was a boy after they met him two years ago over the Internet. Rodreick apparently shaved his body hair and used makeup to keep up the guise.

Deputies who served a search warrant at a Chino Valley home Thursday found Stiffler, Snow, Rodreick and Brian J. Nellis, 34. Quayle said Nellis was apparently Rodreick's cell mate in an Oklahoma prison, where both served time for sex offenses.

They were jailed on $50,000 bond, except Stiffler, who has no bail set. It was not immediately clear Friday whether the men had attorneys.

[jbuck919]

He ought to be put away until he turns 21, at any rate.

[Ralph]

This is getting sicker!

*****




Sex offender posed as 7th grader at two schools


PHOENIX, Arizona (AP) -- A convicted sex offender attended at least two Arizona middle schools, sat through seventh-grade courses and turned in homework as he moved around the state pretending to be 12 years old, officials say.

Authorities in Yavapai County have accused Neil Havens Rodreick II, who is really 29, of assaulting a girl. They are not releasing details.

Rodreick was arrested last week after spending a day at the Mingus Springs Charter School in Chino Valley, about 90 miles northwest of Phoenix. (Watched how the baby-faced ex-con seemed to blend inVideo)

School officials there called police after they checked what they called a phony birth certificate and other admissions documents.

He has been charged with misdemeanor assault, conspiracy to commit fraud, conspiracy to commit forgery, failing to register as a sex offender, and possession of a forgery device. He remains in the Yavapai County jail.

The sheriff's office there said Rodreick conned two men he was living with and having sex with into believing he was a young boy. One of them, 61-year-old Lonnie Stiffler, called himself Rodreick's grandfather when he tried to enroll him at Mingus Springs as "Casey Price."

Officials at another school, in the Phoenix area, said they were reviewing their admissions policies to figure out how they could have let an adult sex offender mix with students for so long.

"Our first priority is to help our students and our families establish a sense of security on our campus," said Rhonda Cagle, spokeswoman for the Imagine School at Rosefield, a charter school for kindergartners through eighth-graders that Rodreick attended sporadically from August to November.

Rodreick showed up August 14 at the Imagine School, officials said. He came to class from time to time, attending about 50 days until November, when administrators kicked him out for poor attendance.

"He was quiet," Cagle said of Rodreick. "He turned in his homework. There were no discipline issues. He was never sent to the principal's office. By most accounts he was aloof and kept to himself."

On Wednesday, officials of the Imagine School gave parents letters saying locks had been added to security gates and the school was working on a task force to evaluate parents' suggestions on school safety.

Parent Tricia Provost said as she dropped off her 10-year-old son and 6- and 8-year-old daughters at the school Wednesday that she wasn't worried. "I have a feeling this school is going to become the safest school in the country," Provost said.

Police say Rodreick may also have tried to enroll in other Arizona schools.

Authorities say Stiffler and Robert James Snow, 43, met Rodreick online, thinking he was a pre-teen, took him from Oklahoma to Arizona and carried on a sexual relationship with him.

They were arrested after authorities served a search warrant at their Chino Valley home Thursday along with Brian J. Nellis, 34, a friend who authorities say followed Rodreick from Oklahoma to Arizona.

The Yavapai County attorney's office said it charged all three, along with Rodreick, with conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to commit forgery. Nellis and Snow were also charged with failing to register as sex offenders.

Because Snow and Stiffler are accused of thinking they were having sex with a minor, they were charged with attempted child molestation and attempted sexual contact with a minor.

All four men remain in jail. Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk would not comment Tuesday, and county public defender's office did not return phone calls.

Nellis' older brother, Richard, said Rodreick met Brian Nellis more than 10 years ago while the two men were at Army basic training.

"When he got out of the military, he came back here and then left again to go to Fort Drum (New York)," said Richard Nellis, who lives in southwest Oregon. "The next thing we know he got out and is in Oklahoma with Neil, and that's when it started going downhill."

In 1996, police in Chickasha, Oklahoma, arrested Rodreick after a 6-year-old boy said Rodreick spoke about "bad nasty things," documents say. Rodreick was convicted in 1996 of lewd and indecent proposal to a minor and sentenced to prison.

A year later, Nellis was convicted of lewd molestation and was imprisoned for three years, Oklahoma records say.




Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LAW/01/24/sex.r ... index.html

[Corlyss_D]

Stiffler and Robert James Snow, 43, "were very upset when the detectives told them they had been having a sexual relationship with a 29-year-old man and not a pre-teen boy," Quayle said.

Now THAT's funny.

I'm sure I'll see this next season on L&O: SVU

[jbuck919]

Because Snow and Stiffler are accused of thinking they were having sex with a minor, they were charged with attempted child molestation and attempted sexual contact with a minor.

Will that stand up?[/b]

[Ralph]

Because Snow and Stiffler are accused of thinking they were having sex with a minor, they were charged with attempted child molestation and attempted sexual contact with a minor.

Will that stand up?[/b]

*****

Definitely. It's a classic criminal jurisprudence issue we cover in the basic law school Crim course. If a person buys oregano believing she's getting marijuana, the charge is attempted possession of a controlled substance. Similarly, an attempt to smuggle into the country some object one has a complete right to bring in can lead to an attempted smuggling charge. The key is mens rea, the mental state of the person when the act is committed.