Former Oklahoma state Sen. Ralph Shortey, who was busted for child sex trafficking, has been ordered to pay more than $125,000 in restitution to his victim.
Shortey, who served as Donald Trump’s state campaign chair in 2016, was arrested in March 2017 after police found him with a 17-year-old boy in a motel room in Moore, Oklahoma. Police found marijuana and condoms on the premises at the time of the arrest.
An affidavit from one of the police investigators revealed text messages between the teen and Shortey showed the former 'family values' lawmaker was looking to pay the boy for sex.
Shortey pleaded guilty to one count of child sex trafficking in November 2017 in exchange for three child pornography charges being dropped. He’s currently serving a 15 year prison sentence in Texas.
Although federal prosecutors requested $535,000 in restitution to be paid to the victim, the judge has ordered Shortey pay $125,850.
Shortey does not have the right to appeal the judgment.
According to local news station KFOR, the original $535K figure sought by prosecutors was “to include mental, psychiatric and psychological treatment along with the victim’s estimated lost income resulting from Shortey’s offense.”
The prosecutors pointed out in their motion that the victim “did not complete high school, largely because of the trauma and victimization caused by the defendant.”
The majority of the requested restitution, $410,000, was to offset lost future income as the Social Security Administration calculates a lifetime loss of approximately $410,000 for individuals who don’t finish high school.
But the judge disregarded that argument as speculative since the boy had obtained his GED.
Shortey’s attorney, Ed Blau, told KFOR he felt the judgment was fair, although the victim won’t receive the majority of the funds anytime soon.
“By statute, my client was ordered to pay $125,000 immediately,” said Blau. “Obviously, he’s incarcerated – he’s not going to be able to do that, so what they will do is they’ll take a certain amount off his books each month.”
