COLERAIN TOWNSHIP, Ohio — The man found with a missing teen from Colerain in a Florida hotel is now facing multiple charges, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio.
Federal officials said 42-year-old Stephen Negron, originally from Rogersville, Tennessee, has been federall charged with transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. If convicted on that charge, Negron could spend 10 years to life in prison.
Earlier this year, a 16-year-old teen girl went ,missing from Colerain Township; We spoke with her father, who told us the teen had left the InTown Suites in Colerain, where her family was staying, to meet someone she met online.
For weeks, community and family members combed Colerain while hanging up missing posters with information about the girl.
On March 13, the FBI announced the teen was found and rescued in Florida.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, investigators determined the teen's cell phone was turned off on Feb. 13, one month before she was found; cell data placed her phone at an intersection near her home in Colerain.
Security footage then showed a silver Chevrolet pickup with a Tennessee license plate number registered to Negron in the same area at the same time, federal officials said. Investigators were then able to track Negron's license plate through license plate readers, as the truck traveled south through Kentucky and into Tennessee.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said once investigators began looking into Negron, they learned there was an outgoing protective order issued against him out of Texas, for an 18-year-old woman who'd met him online in 2023 — when she was 16 and he was 41.
In that case, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Negron traveled from Florida and Tennessee to meet up with that teen, and brought her back with him to Tennessee. He then allegedly drugged her, threatened her and her family and sexually assaulted her.
During the investigation into the missing Colerain girl, FBI agents in Tennessee executed a federal search warrant at Negron's home and found evidence he had a new cell phone number; GPS pings on that number led FBI agents to the Quality Inn & Suites Palatka Riverfront Hotel in Palatka, Florida.
Negron was then arrested and charged for his alleged assaults on the Texas teen. Now, Negron will be extradited to Ohio to face charges here, tied to the Colerain Township teen.
Negron is not the only person charged in connection with the girl who went missing from Colerain Township. Kyle Lawrence, 43, is charged with transportation with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and transportation of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio.
Court documents allege Lawrence was reported to the FBI in May 2024 after he was confronted by a "citizen vigilante group" while in Canada. The docs say Lawrence was allegedly traveling to Canada to "have sexual contact with a purported 15-year-old girl."
Lawrence was arrested in February after an investigation into the disappearance of a Colerain Township teenager showed he had been involved with a minor.
The Colerain Township Police Department (CTPD) confirmed Lawrence had "previous interactions" with 16-year-old Fields. He is not charged in connection with her disappearance.
