Man who threatened children into giving him sexually explicit images goes to prison
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BLACKFOOT — A man who blackmailed children into sending him sexually explicit images and videos asked for forgiveness in court before he was sentenced Wednesday.
Shae James Rolfe, 20, of Blackfoot, was sentenced to 12 years in prison with two years fixed and 10 years indeterminate. District Judge Dane Watkins gave Rolfe credit for time already served in jail, essentially cutting his fixed sentenced to little more than one year. Rolfe will also have to register as a sex offender.
Rolfe has been in the Bingham County Jail since August.
“I’m disgusted with myself and hope that someday people will be able to forgive me,” Rolfe said during his sentencing hearing. “I wasn’t myself that whole time.”
Originally, Rolfe was charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of a child, but as part of a plea agreement in March, Rolfe agreed to plead guilty in return for one of the charges being dropped. Felony sexual exploitation of a child carries a maximum penalty of 30 years.
“These were threats involving finances to minors. It involved legal affairs,” Watkins said. “There is no stronger word than … ‘blackmail’ in the most legitimate sense for children.”
After Rolfe solicited sexual videos and photos from children on the internet, court documents say he would threaten victims that he would post the photos or videos on their social media pages or sue them if they did not continue to send him what he wanted.
The sentencing hearing revealed Rolfe had been investigated for similar crimes in 2014 when he was a juvenile and had even been charged. But Rolfe’s attorney argued that aside from seizing a computer, police never followed up on the investigation. He said Rolfe was never notified he’d been charged in 2014.
Bingham County Prosecutor Paul Rogers disputed the claim, saying police attempted to follow up and get in contact with Rolfe but were unable to. The exact nature of previous crime is unknown as it occurred when Rolfe was a juvenile, and details were not mentioned in court.
Whatever the case, Watkins also pronounced a sentence on the 2014 incident. Rolfe was given two years fixed with eight years indeterminate. Both the adult and juvenile sentences will be served at the same time.
“‘(Rolfe) has continued the same harmful behavior for the last five years,'” Rogers read from the presentencing investigation report. “That harmful behavior is exponential in my mind. What’s going on — it’s asking underage victims for explicit photos and video. On top of that, the criminal thinking behind this is overwhelming … there had been threats made. And it’s all the same pattern throughout.”
Rogers recommended a sentence of four years fixed with six years indeterminate. Rolfe’s defense recommended he be placed on a rider so he could receive treatment — or, at the most, a five-year indeterminate sentence.
The defense argued Rolfe should not be given a fixed sentence because of the charges he could face in other states, and Rolfe could spend up to 20 or 30 years in prison by getting a fixed sentence in each state.
Rogers told EastIdahoNews.com he knows Rolfe has victims in New Jersey, Georgia and the New England area. Rogers said Rolfe could have victims all over the country.
It’s not clear if Rolfe has been charged in any other state.
“I believe that you knew what you were doing was wrong. And it went on for some time with numbers of victims from numbers of different jurisdictions,” Watkins told Rolfe. “It is real. You cannot take back the harm that you have caused.”