An Amber Alert was canceled early Thursday for a 15-year-old girl after she was found with a man who was pulled over during a dangerous-driver stop on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska State Troopers said.
Troopers activated the alert Wednesday evening after they determined the girl was with 51-year-old Steven Narron in the Anchorage area and “in imminent threat of serious injury or death,” troopers said in an update Thursday afternoon.
Narron had an outstanding warrant issued Friday for violating his probation conditions on a 2017 conviction of third-degree sexual assault, court records show. He is a noncompliant sex offender, troopers said.
Investigators connected Narron to a missing juvenile report, but it was not clear from the update if Narron previously knew the teen, who was last seen Sunday in Fairbanks, or how troopers connected them.
The update said troopers from across the state started trying to corroborate the suspicion that the girl was with Narron. Fairbanks troopers worked with probation officers try to find Narron.
Investigators determined Narron was in the Anchorage area with the girl, and Anchorage police found his vehicle abandoned at a park on Wednesday, troopers said. At the time of the alert, they said, Narron may have been armed and dangerous.
Narron has been known to be armed in the past, troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel said Thursday. He provided few details about what led investigators to believe the girl was in imminent danger, but McDaniel said the concern arose from “evidence and information” investigators learned Wednesday.
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Local, state and federal law enforcement searched for the girl after the Amber Alert was issued, and troopers said they received numerous tips from the public.
Narron and the girl were located after someone reported a dangerous driver around 4:30 a.m. Thursday on Kalifornsky Beach Road in Soldotna, troopers said.
The driver of the white Ford SUV refused to pull over when troopers tried to stop him, they said. A pursuit started and the vehicle was stopped using spike strips near Kasilof on the Sterling Highway, troopers said.
The troopers recognized Narron as the driver and found the girl inside the vehicle, they said. A substance suspected to be methamphetamine was found on Narron while he was being arrested, McDaniel said.
Troopers are investigating how Narron ended up in the SUV and on the Kenai Peninsula on Thursday morning after his vehicle had been abandoned in Anchorage, he said.
Narron was taken into custody on the outstanding warrant and charges of eluding, first-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance and driving under the influence, troopers said. He is in custody at the Wildwood Correctional Complex near Kenai.
Troopers said additional charges would likely be filed as the investigation continues.