Senior member of Donald Trump's Oklahoma campaign team charged with engaging in child prostitution
Police found Ralph Shortey and a 17-year-old male in a motel room, the arrest affadavit says
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Your support makes all the difference.A senior member of Donald Trump’s Oklahoma campaign team was booked on felony prostitution charges after police found him in a motel room with a teenage boy and drugs, court documents showed.
Ralph Shortey, who campaigned as a champion of family values, was charged with three felony counts, including engaging in child prostitution.
The 35-year-old who has served as an Oklahoma Republican state senator since 2010, has not spoken to media about the incident.
According to an arrest affidavit, police found Shortey and a 17-year-old male, who was not named, in a motel room in Moore, south of Oklahoma City, on March 9.
"Officers present observed a strong odor of marijuana coming from the room and inside the room at the time of their contact with the defendant," the affidavit said, adding the officers also "found an opened box of condoms in the defendant's backpack."
According to court records filed in Cleveland County, Shortey was booked at a local jail. His bond has been set at $100,000 (£81,000) and local media said he was released about two after he surrendered.
Oklahoma politicians from both major parties called on Shortey to resign, including Republican Governor Mary Fallin.
"The charges against him do not reflect the character and decorum that we expect of an elected official," Ms Fallin said in a statement.
A guns rights advocate who has taken a hard-line stance against abortion, Shortey was sanctioned by the Republican-dominated state Senate earlier this week, on a 43-0 vote for "disorderly behavior."
The sanctions imposed penalties such as stripping him of his office space, removing him from committee positions and cancelling his reserved parking space.
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