Details emerge in Shortey case
The investigation of former state Sen. Ralph Shortey uncovered evidence he posted Craigs list ads several times “attempting to solicit young males for sexual contact,” the FBI reports.
“Need a boy or bromance,” he stated in two Craigslist ads, according to the FBI. “Looking for younger the better (legal) white or mixed.”
He received “hundreds of pornography emails and communications with individuals encountered via Craigslist,” according to the FBI.
The investigation also found Shortey, R-Oklahoma City, emailed photos of himself and his wife “to various individuals in connection with arranging sexual encounters,” the FBI reports.
Shortey was indicted Sept. 5 in Oklahoma City federal court. He is facing trial on three child pornography counts and one child sex trafficking count. He has pleaded not guilty and is free pending trial.
The investigation of Shortey, 35, began after Moore police officers found him with a 17-yearold boy inside a hotel room about 1 a.m. March 9. He resigned from the Senate later that month.
New details about the investigation came to light this week when a magistrate judge made public an FBI agent’s request for a search warrant. The agent was seeking information from Facebook about an account using the screen name Brian Tilley.
The 28-page document reveals that the investigation found evidence of widespread wrongdoing by Shortey and not just the four instances alleged in the indictment.
He faces up to life in federal prison, if convicted. At sentencing, U.S. District Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti could consider evidence of other uncharged offenses in deciding the punishment.
His defense attorney, Ed Blau, declined Wednesday to comment.
Shortey used the fake names Brian Tilley and Jamie Tilley on Craigslist, in emails and on the messaging app Kik, the FBI agent wrote in a court affidavit filed May 1.
“Shortey used those pseudonyms almost exclusively for illicit and illegal sexual interests or encounters, several of which included communications and exchanges of pornography with underage males, and/or the sharing of child pornography,” Special Agent Charles W. Thumann wrote.
An AOL account linked to Shortey “contains hundreds of emails addressed to ‘Brian,’” the agent wrote.
In 2012, Shortey used the email account to send “commercial pornography” to males identified as 16 and 17 at the time, according to the affidavit. “Shortey ... received, in exchange, videos of the boys masturbating.”
Shortey also went by Brinokc4u on the Kik app, according to the affidavit.
In one graphic Craigslist ad, Shortey was seeking five to 10 men to take turns having sex with a male he described as 21 but “looks 18,” according to the affidavit.
“Law enforcement has not identified that person,” the FBI agent wrote.
Arrest was in March
Shortey — who once planned to be a missionary — was investigated first by Moore police and then the FBI after being found with the 17-year-old boy at the Super 8 in Moore.
Police reported Shortey asked in a Kik conversation if the teenager would be interested in “sexual stuff” after the teenager wrote “I need money for spring break.” Police also reported finding an open box of condoms in Shortey’s backpack and a bottle of lotion in the teenager’s backpack.
Shortey was charged March 16 in Cleveland County District Court with three felonies — engaging in child prostitution, engaging in prostitution within 1,000 feet of a church and transporting
a minor for prostitution.
State prosecutors dropped that case Sept. 7 since Shortey now faces the federal child sex trafficking count over the same accusation.
In the newly released court affidavit, the FBI agent revealed the teenager “confirmed that he and Shortey intended to have sexual contact and that they had agreed Shortey would pay him for the contact.”
Police observed both beds were unmade, the agent wrote.
The teenager also advised he met Shortey through a Craigslist personal encounter ad about a year before and that Shortey was aware he was 16 at that time, according to the affidavit.
The teenager said “he and Shortey were smoking marijuana when officers knocked on the door,” according to the affidavit. He “also advised that they had smoked weed at Shortey’s coffee shop ... on the second floor two or three times.”
Shortey is accused in one of the child pornography counts of persuading that teenager to send him an inappropriate photo. The FBI agent reported the teenager said the two actually exchanged photos of their genitals sometime before May 2016.
Shortey is accused in the other child pornography counts of emailing sexually explicit videos to two individuals in October 2013.