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Connor N. Smith mug shot (Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office), left, and during season 3 of MTV’s Are You the One? (MTV/YouTube screenshot)
A 32-year-old former MTV reality television star accused of soliciting sex from an underage girl in Illinois was arrested in Florida last week, bringing an end to a manhunt that lasted more than a year.
Connor N. Smith was taken into custody on Thursday and is awaiting extradition back to Illinois where he will face one felony count each of traveling to meet a minor for a sexual encounter, disseminating harmful material, and grooming, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Deputies with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office at about 12:20 p.m. on March 28 located Smith in the 15000 block of George Boulevard in an unincorporated area of Clearwater, Florida, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by People. The concise affidavit noted that at the time Smith was taken into custody, he was not armed, did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and did not appear to be having any mental health issues.
As Law&Crime previously reported, the search for Smith began in February 2023, when authorities say he fled from a sex sting operation in Lake County, Illinois. Prior to the sting operation, said that Smith spent weeks communicating online with an undercover detective posing as a girl under 15. During the conversations, Smith allegedly sent the undercover detective sexually explicit images and videos of himself.
Smith on the evening of Feb. 9, 2023, drove to a parking garage to meet the girl, but drove off when detectives moved in to arrest him, officials said.
“He became very wary immediately,” Christopher Covelli, deputy chief of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, told Chicago Fox affiliate WFLD in an update of the case earlier this month. “Put the car in drive, drove over a curb, drove over a significant amount of grass out on to a major roadway fleeing from our investigators.”
Covelli said that authorities gave chase but abandoned their pursuit because Smith was traveling at “such a dangerous and excessive speed.”
The next day, the sheriff’s office issued a warrant for his arrest on three felony charges, including traveling to meet a minor, disseminating harmful material, and grooming. A judge in Lake County set bond on the warrant at $1 million.
The sheriff’s office said Smith indicated he would surrender, but never did. Authorities advised the public that anyone who spots Smith should contact law enforcement immediately rather than attempt to approach him.
Covelli said that Smith had “significant family” in southern Florida and had been spotted in the area several times since fleeing Illinois.
Smith became famous as a contestant on the MTV reality show “Are You the One” in 2015.
He was previously arrested and charged in 2021 with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in Indiana. However, prosecutors in that case dismissed the charges against the former reality TV star, telling the judge they did not believe they could prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt after the alleged victim ceased cooperating.
It was not immediately clear when Smith would be transported back to Illinois to face the charges against him.
