While Edward Walter Stewart sits in the Greenlee County jail awaiting trial on 19 felony counts of sexual abuse of children, detectives continue to investigate his activities in neighboring Cochise and Graham counties.
Stewart, 40, was arrested last month in Clifton after investigators with the Greenlee County Attorney’s Office and the Greenlee County Sheriff’s Office identified multiple victims who alleged they had been subjected to sexual misconduct by Stewart, including at least one victim who was under the age of 12.
For now, Stewart is being held in jail on a $1,000,000 cash-only bond. His next court appearance is a May 17 pre-trial conference at the Greenlee County Superior Court. Judge Monica Stauffer has yet to schedule a trial but Stewart faces a mandatory life sentence if convicted of all counts.
In the meantime, an investigation involving Stewart that was opened by the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office in November 2020 is actively assigned to a detective, CCSO spokesperson Carol Capas told Arizona Daily Independent on Thursday. Public records show Stewart lived for a short time in Sierra Vista and Tombstone before moving to Clifton where he had previously lived.
Anyone with information about Stewart can call the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office at 520-432-9500 and ask to speak with a detective.
