Judge Says Sex Offender Who Enrolled In Arizona Schools Fit For Trial

Tuesday, March 27th 2007, 9:33 pm

By: News On 6

PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) -- A judge in Prescott says a 29-year-old sex offender from Oklahoma who posed as a boy while enrolling in several charter schools is competent to stand trial for numerous crimes.

Yavapai County Superior Court Judge Thomas Lindberg found that Neil Rodreick is mentally competent to face 15 counts, including possessing child pornography, assault, fraud, forgery and failing to register as a sex offender.

Defense lawyers had claimed that Rodreick suffers from "significant trauma" in his past and had asked for an independent mental evaluation. A court-appointed psychologist already has evaluated Rodreick.

Authorities say Rodreick attended several charter schools in central Arizona starting in 2005.

He was caught January 17th after spending a day in the seventh-grade at Mingus Springs Charter School in Chino Valley, about 90 miles northwest of Phoenix.