Man pleads guilty to sexual exploitation of a child
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BLACKFOOT — A Blackfoot man who received dozens of sexually explicit videos and photos from children before threatening to expose them pleaded guilty to one felony count Friday.
Shae James Rolfe, 20, was originally charged with sexual battery of a minor child 16 or 17 years of age and two counts of sexual exploitation of a child but as part of a plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed the sexual battery count and one count of sexual exploitation of a child, according to court documents.
Investigators in Blackfoot began looking into Rolfe in August after receiving a report that he was soliciting underage children to send him videos of themselves performing sex acts.
“Rolfe would promise the minor children that he would pay them $5,000 if they sent him videos every day for two weeks. They were required to perform and record whatever sexual acts Rolfe ordered them to do,” a probable cause statement obtained by EastIdahoNews.com states.
He would then tell the minors he would post the videos on their social media pages if they did not continue to send him what he wanted. He also would threaten to sue them for breach of contract and said he would expose them to their friends and family if they no longer wanted to participate, according to court documents.
Police seized several electronic devices from Rolfe’s home on Lena Lane and found he had texted or communicated with about 120 different people
After investigating Rolfe for just two days, the Blackfoot Police Department arrested him. He is scheduled to be sentenced by District Judge Dane H. Watkins Jr on May 9 at the Bingham County Courthouse.