School Says Sex Offender Tried To Enroll

A school alerted authorities to a 29-year-old sex offender who tried to enroll there, pretending he was just 12, in what sheriff's officials said may have been an attempt to lure children into sexual abuse.

Apparently shaving his body hair and wearing makeup, Neil Havens Rodreick II conned two men he was living with and having sex with into believing he was a young boy, the Yavapai County sheriff's office said Friday.

"This is the weirdest case I've seen in 18 years," sheriff's spokeswoman Susan Quayle said. "If it wasn't so sad it would be funny."

Lonnie Stiffler, 61, and Robert James Snow, 43, "were very upset when the detectives told them they had been having a sexual relationship with a 29-year-old man and not a preteen boy," Quayle said.

Stiffler called himself Rodreick's grandfather when he tried to enroll him in school as "Casey Price."

Four men were in custody on various charges, including fraud, forgery, identity theft, and failure to register as a sex offender.

School officials told deputies the "boy" looked much older than 12, and that papers the "grandfather" presented appeared to be fake.

Detectives have evidence that Stiffler and Snow enrolled Rodreick in other Arizona schools, and have notified law enforcement in those jurisdictions, Quayle said.

"I think what we're looking at is that he's being used to troll for other kids," Quayle said. It was unclear whether Rodreick had attended any schools.

She said detectives learned in interviews with the men that Rodreick convinced Stiffler and Snow that he was a boy after meeting two years ago over the Internet.

Deputies who served a search warrant Thursday found Stiffler, Snow, Rodreick and Brian J. Nellis, 34. Quayle said Nellis was apparently Rodreick's cell mate in an Oklahoma prison, where both served time for sex offenses.

County Public Defender Janet Lincoln said her office had not seen any reports or met with the men by Friday afternoon and would have no comment.