KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Prosecutors can use evidence found on a cellphone and Google Drive belonging to Stephan Sterns to prove he raped 13-year-old Madeline Soto when Sterns goes on trial for sexual battery later this month, a judge said Wednesday.
Circuit Court Judge Keith Carsten announced in court that he had denied a defense motion seeking to suppress the cell phone evidence, which Sterns claimed police had improperly seized from him.
Jury selection in the sexual battery trial is scheduled to begin July 22, Carsten said. The judge denied a joint motion filed by Sterns and prosecutors seeking to delay the trial.
Sterns, 39, has pleaded not guilty to raping and murdering Soto, who was the daughter of Sterns’ former girlfriend.
Soto was reported missing on February 26, 2024, after she failed to show up for class at Hunter’s Creek Middle School. Sterns told police he drove Soto to school that morning.
While searching for Soto, investigators said they uncovered images on Sterns’ phone and Google Drive that showed him raping the teen.
[WATCH BELOW: Documents show Sterns may have been sexually abusing Soto for years, Kissimmee police say]
Authorities found Soto’s body four days later in a wooded area near St. Cloud. The teen had been strangled to death, the medical examiner determined.
Sterns will be tried for murder in a separate trial scheduled to begin in September.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the homicide case.
In his first trial, Sterns is facing 60 criminal charges, including sexual battery on a child under the age of 12, lewd or lascivious molestation, and unlawful possession of materials depicting sexual performance by a child.
Prosecutors told the judge the state could call up to 12 witnesses during the sexual battery trial and expect their presentation will take about four days.