Kentucky man charged with rape of 15-year-old to be held without bond following Aniah's Law hearing
During his Aniah's Law hearing Wednesday, a Colbert County judge said Justin Stephens is to be held without bond.
Stephens, 43 of Kentucky, was arrested in October 2024, and charged with second-degree rape, traveling to meet a child for sex and enticing a child to enter a vehicle or house.
Court documents show Stephens called a Lauderdale County school to check out a 15-year-old girl. Stephens claimed to be the girl's father and that she needed to be checked out of school.
Sergeant Casson with the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Office said Stephens had been messaging with the girl for a while. Casson said the girl was using a phone she was not supposed to have.
Court documents state that the school's security cameras caught the girl leaving school around 9 a.m. and entering a black Dodge truck. The documents state Stephens took the girl to an abandoned residence in Florence.
Security footage from the school shows her returning back to school around 2 p.m. that day.
The girl's father told investigators he found a phone in her room. He said she had never had a phone before so he and the girl's mom began questioning her.
The parents looked through the teenager's phone and found various messages and photos between the girl and Stephens.
Srgt. Casson said the two used an app called 'wakie.' Casson said it is a chatting platform that allows people to talk to strangers. Casson said that when the girl's father saw everything, he called the police.
Stephens was arrested at a VA hospital in Ohio and was transported to the Lauderdale County Detention Center on a bond of $365,000.
Records show he was indicted on January 17, and on March 7, a Lauderdale County Circuit Court Judge granted that Stephens be transferred from the Lauderdale County Detention Center to the custody of the Colbert County Sheriff's Office.
Once in the Colbert County Jail, Stephens was given additional charges. According to jail records, Stephens now is charged with:
First-degree rape
Second-degree rape
Two counts of electronic solicitation of a child
Second-degree sodomy
Interference with custody
Two counts of travelling to meet a child for unlawful sex act
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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