The shocking moment a former Oklahoma senator was found inside a motel room with an underage boy who he had paid for sex has been shown for the first time.
Senator Ralph Shortey was caught in the Super 8 motel in Moore, Oklahoma, on March 9 with the 17-year-old boy.
Police were called to the motel by the boy’s worried family.
Inside, officers found him with Shortey, a married father-of-four, and a stash of marijuana.
The 35-year-old was wearing a joke t-shirt with the bible verse Ephesians printed on it.
Last week, Shortey pleaded guilty to a single charge of felony child sex trafficking and is now awaiting sentencing.
Ralph Shortey is seen above in newly-released bodycam footage taken by police on the night they found him inside a motel room with a 17-year-old boy. He is seen above opening the door at 1.06am with the boy out of sight
He first made contact with the boy on Craigslist by responding to an ad. The pair later spoke on the messaging app Kik. Recovered messages showed how he offered to pay the youngster for sex.
The police officers’ bodycam footage had been kept confidential until the case was settled and was this week revealed by Fox 25.
It shows Shortey sitting on the bed, claiming that he did not know the boy was 17 and asking the police officers to prove it.
The teenager is not visible at any point in the footage.
Police officers were called to the motel by the boy’s family. It is not known how they knew where he was.
Once they had arrived at the Super 8 Motel, police went to the room which Shortey had taken in his name.
They said they smelled a strong odor of marijuana once outside.
Shortey was shocked by the invasion and told the officers ‘you’re really freaking me out’. He then claimed he did not know the boy was underage
The motel room had two beds, one of which appeared to have been sat on by the time police arrived
The officers (shown above before Shortey let them in) were called to the motel by the boy’s concerned father
It took the 35-year-old several minutes to open the door. As he claimed to get dressed inside, the officers waited on the doorstep.
One yelled: ‘You better hurry up,’ before Shortey finally opened the door.
Once inside, and with the boy out of view, they scolded the Republican politician.
‘He’s 17!’ one deputy declared.
Shortey replied with a casual ‘OK’. It enraged the responding officer who shot back: ‘What do you mean OK? He’s 17!’.
Shortey is seen above in his mugshot on March 15, several days after the raid
Embarrassed, he at first replied: ‘I didn’t know that.’ He then grew more confident and asked: ‘Can you show me that he’s only 17?’
The officer fired back: ‘No I can’t but I can convince you that he is. I could put you in handcuffs and throw you in the back of a car.’
None of them seemed to be aware of who he was when they were in the room.
Later, he said the pair were just talking and that he was trying to help the boy ‘get back on track’.
‘[We were] just hanging out, talking about life. He couldn’t graduate high school, and (I’m) trying to help him get his life on track,’ he said.
Another officer gave admonished him for spending time with the boy.
‘Whatever you are doing, it’s a bad f****** idea. Getting high with a young kid is a bad idea, no matter if they’re 17 or 20. It’s a bad idea.
The 35-year-old is pictured on November 30 when he entered his guilty plea. He is now awaiting sentencing
‘You wanna have fun by yourself? You got things you need to figure out by yourself?
‘You can live your life however you want to live it but when you start doing it with kids and stuff, then it becomes a serious, serious problem.’
Shorten resigned shortly after the incident. He was not arrested on the night in question but was later charged.
He was initially facing several charges which included child pornography and engaging in prostitution.
It is not known how much money he planned to give the boy or if they ever had any sexual contact.
Shortey is pictured with his wife Jennifer. The pair have four daughters
In the body cam footage, one of the two queen beds in the motel room appears to have been sat on.
Shortey pleaded guilty to a single charge of child sex trafficking. He told police that he used a fake name when he was speaking with the boy.
In text messages, he asked him if he was ‘interested in sexual stuff’ in return for money.
He called him ‘baby boy’ and the pair communicated for around a year before the March incident.
In their incident reports at the time, police reported finding an open box of condoms and some lotion inside a backpack in the room.
Shortey is in custody awaiting sentencing. He could be sentenced to life imprisonment and faces a maximum fine of $250,000.
The Trump-supporting former Senator was first elected in 2010 and was reelected in 2012.