Ralph Lee Shortey
Ralph Allen Lee Shortey is a Republican politician who was elected to the Oklahoma Senate’s 44th district seat in 2010. Shortey had been active in Republican politics since the early 2000s, and ran for election on a “family values” platform. He was re-elected in 2014.
Shortey’s voting record consistently featured attempts to strip rights from LGBTQ people. In 2017, he supported SB 694, a bill that would prohibit county and city governments from making laws preventing discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.
Shortey also served with the Oklahoma City YMCA’s Youth and Government program, where he chaperoned youth on several out-of-state trips.
In 2017, during his second term in office, Ralph Shortey was apprehended in a motel room in Moore, Oklahoma with a 17-year-old boy. Police were acting on a tip from the underage boy’s father. They reported a “strong odor of raw marijuana” and, when they entered the room, Shortey was wearing a T-shirt reading “Go make me a sandwich.” Officers found an opened box of condoms, a laptop, and a bottle of hydrocodone in Shortey’s backpack.
After his arrest, Shortey claimed that he had placed his cell phone on top of his car and drove off with it, and thus was unable to provide it to investigators. However, he had actually driven to an AT&T store, purchased a new SIM card and installed it in his phone to obscure evidence.
Police investigation of Republican State Senator Ralph Shortey’s cell phone revealed a history of messages between himself and the underage boy on the messaging service Kik.
During their conversation on Kik, told Shortey “I need money for spring break.” Shortey replied, “I don’t really have any legitimate things I need help with right now. Would you be interested in “sexual” stuff?”
In the conversations, Shortey clearly offered the underage boy payment in exchange for sexual acts and called him “baby boy.” Forensic investigation revealed that Shortey had taken out multiple advertisements on Craigslist with the heading “Need a boy or bromance – m4m,” requesting “Looking for younger the better.”
Ralph Shortey resigned from his state Senate seat six days after being charged with soliciting a minor for prostitution, prostitution within 1,000 feet of a church, and transporting someone for prostitution. In Oklahoma, the age of consent is 16, but it is illegal to engage in prostitution for anybody under 18.
In September of 2017, the state charges were dropped in favor of Federal charges: sex trafficking and child pornography, related to both his March arrest and images of underage individuals that he distributed through email in 2012 and 2013, including “video of a prepubescent female who was penetrated vaginally by a Sharpie marker and then later penetrated vaginally and anally with an adult’s penis.” He pled down to one count of sex trafficking and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release.
Republican pedophile Ralph Shortey is currently incarcerated at FCI Seagoville in Seagoville, Texas.
Sources:
Oklahoma GOP senator’s fall from power is stunningly fast, Associated Press
Former Oklahoma State Senator Sentenced to 15 Years For Child Sex Trafficking, Department of Justice
Evidence Unsealed In Ralph Shortey Case, News 9
