Search for missing teen comes up empty on second day

ELYRIA — Vincent Pabon, 16, still is missing after a second day of searching by police, fire and rescue personnel and his own friends and family in and around the Black River on Friday. Pabon, of Sheffield Lake, has been missing since he reportedly fell into the Black River early Thursday morning after a night of hanging out and drinking with Jacob Rosado, 24, in the woods along the river beneath East Falls. Rosado, of Elyria, reported Pabon's disappearance at 7:58 a.m. Thursday, at least three hours after he said Pabon fell into the water and did not come back out. He has been charged with felony tampering with evidence and misdemeanor contributing to the unruliness of a child and was being held on $100,000 bond in the Lorain County Jail. Elyria police and fire searched the water and the banks of the Black River Thursday and again on Friday using K-9s, divers, submersibles, drones and a boat that was placed in the water at Cascade Falls at around 2 p.m. The second search turned up no sign of Pabon. Lantz said that after searching further upstream, the search team decided to focus its efforts predominantly on the large basin just beneath the East Falls, which searchers have taken to calling "The Bowl." "They conducted a grid search of this area and also assessed the area as they were coming up (the Black River)," Lantz said. He said that one of the search K-9s did possibly detect something in a wooded area on the bank opposite of the East Falls Riverwalk, where the basin tapers back down and the river continues north, but nothing was found. "The dog definitely expressed some interest," he said "... They focused particular attention on that area. And then from that, when you are dealing with the water, if something is coming out of the water, typically it's upstream from that area. They, again, conducted that grid search and it is my understanding that there were no really significant areas of interest." The search efforts in the water were called off for the day at about 4 p.m. "They're calling off their search efforts in the water right now, we'll continue with some search efforts as well," Lantz said. "At this point it will primarily be visual observation from police personnel as well as drone operations. … We are definitely still committed to locating Vincent and kind of bringing an understanding of what actually transpired here." Pabon's mother, Megan Cuevas, said she and Vincent's family and friends would continue searching for her son themselves, and that she was disappointed the search of the water was called off. "This isn't a bank, you don't clock out at 4, you know? He's a kid and he is still out there," she said. Lantz said that water rescue teams would only be called out as needed over the weekend. Along with ongoing search efforts, Elyria police are still investigating the circumstances leading up to Pabon's disappearance. Police first learned the teen was missing when Rosado entered the Elyria Police Department at 7:58 a.m. and told officers that he and Pabon had been walking along the river when Pabon fell in. Rosado told police he attempted to help Pabon but also fell in the river and then swam to shore. When he reached the shore, Rosado said, he could not hear or see Pabon. Rosado told police that he and Pabon had stayed in the woods overnight and had been drinking together. Security footage shows the two entering the woods above the Black River at 10:59 p.m. on Wednesday carrying food. Footage shows Rosado leaving the woods alone at 5:37 a.m. on Thursday. Lantz said that Pabon got to Elyria from Sheffield Lake by getting a ride from a friend. Pabon was initially cooperative with police, but Lantz said he eventually asked for an attorney, at which point the interview stopped. Lantz said that he was unsure how much of Rosado's story to believe. "It's a coin flip for me," he said. "Certain things that he said were corroborated by the information (we have found), but ultimately we know that he could just be putting us on a wild goose chase. But what we do know is Vincent hasn't returned home. Vincent hasn't contacted anybody. Vincent is still a missing person. We are exploring all avenues of that to try to get some answers." Pabon's phone pinged near the river at some point between 3 and 5 a.m. on Thursday, but there has been no activity on it since. Lantz said that a search warrant was carried out on Rosado's home on Birchbark Drive on Friday, but that he could not share any information on what, if anything, was found in the search. Rosado was 19 on May 6, 2021, when a Lorain County grand jury indicted him in Common Pleas Court on one count of gross sexual imposition, a third-degree felony. Gross sexual imposition is a crime that can include unwanted or unlawful sexual touching or molestation. Common Pleas Court records didn't identify the victim. Rosado allegedly had sexual contact with a person under the age of 13 on or about Feb. 15-16, 2021, according to his indictment. If convicted of the felony charge, he could have faced mandatory prison time and sex offender registration. In January 2022 Rosado pleaded guilty to an amended, lesser charge of attempted criminal child enticement, a second-degree misdemeanor, in Judge Chris Cook's court room. Attempted criminal child enticement refers to an adult trying to get a child under the age of 14 to accompany them anywhere, often into a car. Following a joint sentencing recommendation, Cook sentenced Rosado to 90 days in jail and fined him $750, with all of the jail term suspended, according to court records. Cook further ordered Rosado to be on good behavior for six months and to pay his fine during that time, according to court records. In 2022, Rosado pleaded guilty to and was convicted of failure to disclose personal information, a misdemeanor, in Elyria Municipal Court. Judge Robert White fined him $150, according to court records. Lantz said on Friday that he would not comment on any of Rosado's prior convictions. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.