Sex offender pretends to be 12-year-old

YAVAPAI COUNTY, ARIZ. - Some parents in Arizona are shocked after learning a 29-year-old sex offender tried to enroll in school as a 12-year-old.

Investigators believe he was doing it to try to find young boys to molest - and they don't think it was the first time.

When 29-year-old Neil Rodreick tried to register for school as a 12-year-old boy named Casey Price, Arizona educators immediately became suspicious. His paperwork appeared fake, and he looked older than his potential classmates.

"Students at 12 years old have very smooth, unwrinkled skin," said School Director Dawn Gonzales, "and his just seemed to be a little bit not like a pre-teen."

But they had no idea that this boy was really a man - let alone a convicted sex offender who had served five years in an Oklahoma prison. They called sheriffs to investigate.

"He looked very young," said Det. Ross Diskin of the Yavapai County sheriff's office. "There was something odd about him that we all noticed. He didn't appear to be 12, but he certainly didn't appear to be 29."

Sheriffs tracked Rodreick to a home 90 miles north of Phoenix, where they found him living with 61-year-old Lonnie Stiffler, who posed as his grandfather. Two sex offenders were also living there. Investigators learned that Rodreick concealed his age by wearing makeup and shaving his body.

"He wouldn't make eye contact with you," said Det. Luis Huante, of the sheriff's office. "He had a baseball hat, glasses and he was very soft spoken."

The four men were arrested on charges including fraud, forgery, identity theft and failure to register as a sex offender.

Enrolling in a school may have been a way for the convicted sex offender to get close to children. Investigators said Rodreick had successfully registered in two Arizona schools.

This week, investigators will visit the other schools to determine how much time he spent there and if any children became the victims of his bizarre scheme.