The boyfriend of the mother of 13-year-old Madeline Soto, the Florida girl who was found dead in a wooded area this month, is facing 60 new charges that span from sexual battery to possession of child pornography, authorities said Tuesday.
Stephan Sterns, 37, who was previously described by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office as “the prime suspect” in Madeline’s disappearance, was hit with the fresh charges on Monday, according to a news release from the State Attorney’s Office for the Ninth Judicial Circuit.
He has not been charged in connection with the girl’s death.
Madeline’s mother reported her missing Feb. 26 after she went to pick the girl up from school and learned that she never made it.
Sterns was arrested Feb. 28 on charges of sexual battery and possession of child sexual abuse material after detectives found “disturbing images” and videos that were “criminal, and sexual in nature” on his phone, the sheriff’s office said.
During the search for Madeline, Sterns was interviewed by law enforcement and consented to having his phone searched, an arrest affidavit said. He told authorities he accidentally did a factory reset the day Madeline vanished, according to the affidavit.
However, a forensic examination of the phone led authorities to discover the images, prompting his arrest. The arrest affidavit did not name Madeline but said the images found depicted “the missing juvenile.”
Further investigation led to the discovery of more images showing criminal acts, leading to the new charges.
He now faces eight counts of sexual battery on a child under 12; five counts of sexual battery with a child 12 to 18 (familial/custodial authority); seven counts of lewd or lascivious molestation; and 40 counts of unlawful possession of materials depicting sexual performance by a child 10 or more images, according to the news release.
Court documents filed Monday, which blocked out the name of the victim, indicate that the crimes dated back to 2019, several…
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