FILE - In this Nov. 30, 2017 file photo, former two-term Republican state Sen. Ralph Shortey arrives at the federal courthouse in Oklahoma City to plead guilty to a federal charge of child sex trafficking. The former Republican state senator in Oklahoma already sentenced to 15 years in prison on a child sex trafficking charge has now been ordered to pay a more-than-$125,000 fine. Federal judge Timothy DeGiusti on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019, ordered Shortey to pay the money to the victim. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
February 01, 2019 - 10:46 AM
OKLAHOMA CITY - An ex-Republican state senator in Oklahoma already sentenced to 15 years in prison on a child sex trafficking charge has now been ordered to pay $125,000 in restitution.
Federal judge Timothy DeGiusti on Thursday ordered Ralph Shortey to pay the money to the victim. He faced up to a $250,000 fine.
Shortey's attorney, Ed Blau, called the fine fair.
Shortey pleaded guilty in November 2017 in exchange for prosecutors dropping three child pornography charges against him.
Police found Shortey in an Oklahoma City-area hotel room in March 2017 with a then-17-year-old boy. Police said Shortey had offered to pay the boy for sex.
During seven years in the state Senate, Shortey routinely voted yes on bills targeting LGBTQ people, including one that would have allowed business owners to discriminate against gay people.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019