news said: "
Leaders at a Surprise charter school are still coping with the discovery that a sex offender posed as a seventh-grade student for months.

Casey Price played at recess, did his homework and was considered a good pupil.

But Casey, a former student at the Surprise charter school, shouldn't have been enrolled. He was actually a 29-year-old sex offender named Neil Havens Rodreick II

Rodreick now sits in a Prescott jail charged with fraud, forgery, identity theft and failure to register as a sex offender.

So far, there are no reports of inappropriate conduct with students in Surprise, though the investigation is ongoing, said Officer Michael Stewart, Surprise police spokesman. Officials also are investigating whether Rodreick was enrolled at other Arizona schools in areas where he had lived, such as Payson.

Imagine School officials have formed a task force in an effort to review policies to prevent this from happening again, Cagle said. The school turned Rodreick's forged documentation over to police but would not elaborate on them because they are evidence.

The incident has led other schools to double-check their policies, as well.

"It was an awareness for us, to make sure we're keeping with our policy," said Tim Gonzales, middle school principal at the Paradise Education Center, a charter school also in Surprise.

Though Rodreick's mug shot shows a man, it wasn't difficult for him to blend in, said Susan Quayle, spokeswoman for the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office.

"You can't tell from his picture, but he's a very small guy. I would say he has a delicate looking bone structure," she said.

Rodreick walked, talked and dressed like a teenager. At 5-foot-6, 120 pounds, he was small enough not to raise suspicion at Imagine School. He shaved his body hair and wore pancake makeup to hide his age.

"This individual stood on the curb at pick-up time. Parents walked by him every day. Nothing drew attention," Cagle said.

He was a student at the Surprise school from August to November. He was shy, never visited the principal's office, and neither his behavior nor appearance ever caused concern from parents, teachers or administrators.

"By all accounts he was quiet, he kept to himself most of the time and appeared to be a good student. He did his homework and turned it in," said Cagle.

Rodreick's con was good enough to convince two men he was 12. Rodreick met the men, Lonnie Stiffler, 61, and Robert Snow, 43, over the Internet two years ago, and later in person in Oklahoma. Evidence shows he had sexual relations and lived with them in Payson and El Mirage before moving with them to Chino Valley. He attended the Surprise school while living in El Mirage.

But Rodreick's con didn't fly at Mingus Springs Charter School in Chino Valley, 90 miles northwest of Phoenix.

On Jan. 17, school officials reported suspicious and possibly fraudulent student registration paperwork. Stiffler tried to enroll the "boy" in the school and claimed he was his grandson. Officials also had concern the "boy" was older than 12. This led to an investigation by the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office and the arrest of four men.

The Sheriff's office arrested Stiffler and Snow as well as Brian Nellis, a former cellmate of Rodreick's in Oklahoma, who may have helped with the con. Charges against the men include fraud, forgery and identity theft.

News broke of the arrests last Friday, and a former teacher at Imagine School recognized "Casey." The teacher notified Imagine officials, who spent Friday evening pulling records. They went to the Surprise Police Department on Saturday.

Yavapai County Sheriff's Office stated in a report they believe Rodreick may have disguised his age in order to "ingratiate himself with potential juvenile victims."

In 1996, Rodreick was convicted of lewd and indecent proposal to a minor, according to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
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