Police Say Sex Offender, 29, Posed as a Boy

Eventually, Snow, a registered sex offender, and Stiffler, whom police said admitted molesting a child in California, met Rodreick at an Oklahoma motel and took him to Arizona. They had sex with Rodreick, believing that he was 12, court records say.

Rodreick first enrolled as 12-year-old "Casey Rodreick" in Shelby Charter School in Gila County, Ariz., in August 2005. Though enrolled in the school for 21 days, Rodreick attended only seven days of school, said Jamie Garrett, a spokeswoman for the Gila County Sheriff's Office. Snow, posing as Rodreick's guardian, withdrew "Casey" after school officials said his paperwork was incomplete.

"The consensus was he was just a loner, and to our knowledge there was no molesting," Garrett said.

In late 2005 and early 2006, police said, Rodreick and his roommates lived in Payson in a trailer court. According to court records, Rodreick brought classmates to the home. Authorities do not yet know whether those children were molested.

Rodreick next showed up in Surprise, a western suburb of Phoenix, where he was enrolled by his "guardians" in Imagine Elementary-Middle School at Rosefield, according to the school's spokeswoman, Rhonda Cagle. "Casey Price" was enrolled as a seventh-grader from August to November 2006, Cagle said.

"There was nothing that distinguished him from other middle school students," Cagle said. "We had larger students in the seventh grade."

She said Rodreick waited with the other students on the curb after school, seemed quiet and well behaved, and had acne.

So far, Surprise police and school officials say, they have no indication that Rodreick or the other men committed crimes against children in the course of the scam.

In early January, Rodreick, Nellis, Stiffler and Snow moved into a blue-and-pink modular house on a quiet street in Chino Valley. According to court records, Stiffler said he enrolled Rodreick for a few days in early January at Achieve Academy, a charter school in nearby Prescott Valley.

Then on Jan. 17, Stiffler enrolled Rodreick in the Mingus Springs Charter School in Chino Valley. Julie Bradshaw, a school counselor, noticed discrepancies in the documents Stiffler gave the school. She also thought "Casey" was older than 12. Bradshaw notified the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office, which quickly learned that Rodreick, Snow and Nellis are convicted sex offenders.

The men were arrested Jan. 18. At the time of Rodreick's arrest, investigators noted that his five o'clock shadow was poking through his makeup.

Snow and Stiffler were angry that they had been having sex with a man when they thought they were having sex with a 12-year-old, authorities said.

"Everybody in town thinks this is just terrible," said Jackie Eaton, 50, who has lived in Chino Valley for 16 years. "This has left a strong impression on the community. We are more watchful now."

"You come to a place like this because you want to get out of the congested city. And then these four guys hook up in Chino Valley," she said. "Holy cow, this is wild."