8-year-old sexually assaulted walking home in 2009, AZ cops say. Arrest now made
More than a decade ago, an 8-year-old girl walking home was kidnapped and sexually assaulted, Ariozna police say.
Stephen Paul Lipton, 43, was arrested Thursday, July 31, in connection with the “2009 kidnapping and sexual assault,” the Peoria Police Department said in an Aug. 7 news release.
Attorney information for Lipton was not immediately available.
As a girl was “walking home from a nearby elementary school” in January 2009, a man approached, police said.
The man told the girl he was a police officer and was her mother’s friend, convincing her to get in his car, police said.
“He then drove her to a nearby neighborhood where he committed heinous acts on her and released her,” police said.
While “a sexual assault kit was collected and tested” at the time, police said, the results came back negative.
“The case went cold,” police said.
After getting grant money from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, authorities again sent DNA evidence for testing, police said.
“Funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative aims to create a coordinated community response that ensures just resolution to sexual assault cases,” the initiative’s website says.
Starting in 2016, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office received grant funding “to test sexual assault kits, as well as investigate and prosecute (such) cases,” the website says.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has received additional funding over the years, most recently receiving $2,499,819 in 2024, the website shows.
“SAKI funds have been critical in pursuing justice for victims of cold case sex assaults,” Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in the release.
In July, there was a hit in the Combined DNA Index System that identified the suspect, police said.
CODIS is “a computer software program that operates local, state, and national databases of DNA profiles from convicted offenders, unsolved crime scene evidence, and missing persons,” according to federal prosecutors.
Lipton was taken into custody after police said they worked with his probation officer.
A criminal complaint shows Lipton was charged with felony counts of kidnapping and sexual conduct with a minor on Aug. 5.
“Given the nature of this case, detectives believe there may be additional victims or similar incidents that were never fully investigated or tested for DNA at the time,” police said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 623-773-7045.
Peoria is about a 13-mile drive northwest from Phoenix.
This story was originally published August 8, 2025 at 12:49 PM with the headline "8-year-old sexually assaulted walking home in 2009, AZ cops say. Arrest now made."
