Anti-gay Oklahoma lawmaker busted in motel room with underage boy

Shortey pleaded guilty to child sex trafficking in exchange for child pornography charges

Dec 8, 2017

Police have released video of the moment they caught former Oklahoma state Sen. Ralph Shortey in a motel room with a 17-year-old boy.

On Thursday, Shortey pleaded guilty to a federal charge of child sex trafficking in exchange for three child pornography charges being dropped.

The video shows police arriving to the motel room and threatening to use a master key to get inside the room, at which point they find Shortey inside with the teenager. Although Shortey tried to claim that he was only mentoring the boy, police found sexually explicit messages on the teen’s tablet as well as a box of condoms and lotion.

The messages between Shortey and the teen showed that the boy had said he needed “money for spring break.” In the course of the messages, Shortey called the teen “baby boy” and offered money for “sexual stuff.”

Police were able to find Shortey thanks to a tip from the teen’s concerned father.

After Shortey was indicted, the Oklahoma state senate sanctioned him for “disorderly behavior.” According to the New York Daily News, he was kicked out of his office, his name scraped off the door, his name painted over in the parking lot, and the locks changed.

The fact that Shortey was found in a motel with a teenage boy is especially egregious given the fact that he has been an outspoken opponent of LGBTQ rights.