Man posing as teen may face molest charges

updated 3:11 p.m. ET Feb. 6, 2007

OKLAHOMA CITY - Investigators said Tuesday they will recommend felony molestation charges against a sex offender who passed himself off as a schoolboy, saying they have a videotape of him having sex with an 11-year-old Oklahoma boy.

Police identified Neil H. Rodreick II, 29, in the video by marks on his body, El Reno Police Lt. Van Gillock said.

Rodreick was arrested last month when officials at a charter school in Arizona questioned the authenticity of his birth certificate and other enrollment documents.

He had enrolled in four charter schools posing as a 12- or 13-year-old, records show. Authorities said he shaved and wore pancake makeup to help him appear younger, convincing teachers, students and administrators that he was a boy named Casey.

Police believe that Rodreick also pretended to be a 13-year-old when he lived in El Reno from 2003 to 2005, Gillock said.

“There’s a skate park where the boys like to skateboard, and that’s where he hung out and skateboarded,” the officer said.

Rodreick and another convicted sex offender, Brian Nellis, 34, took the Oklahoma boy on a trip to the Grand Canyon during spring break in 2005, Gillock said. He said the boy’s mother contacted police in Arizona after learning Rodreick’s true identity.

“We know the names of other young men here in El Reno that he did hang around, and we’re going around to each one of them and talking to them,” Gillock said.

In Arizona, Rodreick and Nellis were living with Lonnie Stiffler, 61, and Robert J. Snow, 43, another convicted sex offender. Arizona authorities say Rodreick conned Stiffler and Snow into believing he was a young boy, and that Stiffler pretended to be his grandfather and tried to enroll him at a charter school.

All four were charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to commit forgery, and Rodreick, Snow and Nellis were charged with failing to register as sex offenders. Nellis is cooperating with authorities, Gillock said.

Rodreick also is charged with other counts, including misdemeanor assault against a girl.

Police in El Reno will recommend that prosecutors charge him with lewd molestation or sodomy, Gillock said. If convicted, he would face a mandatory life sentence because of his previous conviction.

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