Alexander Michael Stephenson
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — Charges of possessing and distributing child pornography were dropped against a Stillwater man on the request of the Payne County District Attorney’s Office last week, court records show.
Alexander Michael Stephenson, 29, who was an Oklahoma National Guardsman when the case was filed last year, was in court here for a June 17 preliminary hearing when Assistant District Attorney Debra Vincent obtained the dismissal, court records show.
The Payne County prosecutor could not be reached by KUSH as to whether Stephenson was being prosecuted in military court.
Stephenson “was set to deploy with the Oklahoma National Guard to Africa prior to his arrest,” in May of 2023 in El Paso, Tex., Stillwater Police Lt. Terry Low said in a news release. He was freed on $100,000 bail in El Paso, Texas, on May 15, 2023, on his Payne County charges, court records show.
Stillwater Police Detective Stephanie Wheeler had received a cyber tip on Sept. 29, 2022, from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that “a suspect using the social media app Kik uploaded/shared apparent child sexual abuse material,” the news release said.
“Detective Wheeler, a member of the Criminal Investigations Unit and cross-commissioned member of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, began a thorough investigation to identify the suspect,” the news release said.
“Detective Wheeler worked alongside investigators with the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division to secure the identity and arrest of Stephenson,” the news release said.
