Editing article

Title

Summary

Content

Former MTV reality star Connor Smith has been arrested after spending 13 months on the run, evading authorities who launched a nationwide manhunt for him.The 33-year-old, who was a cast member on season three of <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/entertainment/tv" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MTV's dating show</a> "Are You The One?" in 2015, was wanted on three felony charges, including traveling to meet a minor for a sexual encounter, grooming and disseminating harmful material. In February 2023, a warrant for Smith was issued in Lake County, Illinois. He was taken into custody by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office at 15163 George Blvd. in Clearwater, Florida, on Thursday, according to a charge report posted on the<a href="https://www.pcsoweb.com/InmateBooking/SubjectResults.aspx?id=1959635" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> office's website.</a>Smith was booked into the Pinellas County Jail that same day at 2:01 p.m. local time, per the report.According to an affidavit obtained by People magazine, Smith did not have any weapons on him at <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/us/crime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the time of his arrest.</a> The affidavit further stated that Smith did not appear to be under the influence of drugs and there were no signs of mental health issues.<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/nationwide-manhunt-underway-former-mtv-star-allegedly-tried-have-sexual-encounter-with-teenager" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NATIONWIDE MANHUNT UNDERWAY FOR FORMER MTV STAR WHO ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO HAVE SEXUAL ENCOUNTER WITH MINOR</a>Last February, the Lake County Sheriff's Department issued a media release, which described Smith as having corresponded with a female undercover detective who was pretending to be under the age of 15.According to the release, "Smith sent ‘the child’ sexually explicit images and videos of himself. Smith then made arrangements to meet the ‘girl’ for a sexual encounter."The Sheriff's department says Smith had been in communication with "the girl" for several weeks..<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS</a>On Feb. 9, 2023, under the pretense he was meeting the "girl," Smith drove to an alternate location. Detectives moved in to apprehend him, however he was able to "escape and fled in his vehicle."A nationwide arrest warrant was then filed for Smith, with a<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/us/us-regions/midwest/illinois" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Lake County Judge </a>setting bond on the warrant at $1 million.<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/newsletters" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER</a>Smith previously told authorities that he would surrender himself to them, but he failed to do so.Smith had previously been accused of inappropriate behavior towards a minor in 2021. He was <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/us/crime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">arrested</a> and charged with rape, sexual battery and two counts of criminal confinement, according to court documents obtained by Us Weekly. According to The Times of Northwest Indiana, the charges were dropped in Sept. 2022. <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/entertainment/events/in-court" target="_blank" rel="noopener">An attorney for Smith</a> said at the time that they were "pleased with the outcome and glad we were able to vindicate our client of these horrible false charges."Additionally, attorney Maryam Afshar-Stewart told the media, "Unfortunately, these type of accusations, despite a dismissal, carry consequences that are far-reaching. . . . While a dismissal is a step in the right direction, Mr. Smith has a long road ahead to repair the damage that has been caused by these false allegations."Fox News Digital's Caroline Thayer contributed to this report.

Author

Link

Published date

Image url

Feed url

Guid

Hidden blurb

--- !ruby/object:Feedjira::Parser::RSSEntry
published: 2024-03-31 01:44:40.000000000 Z
entry_id: !ruby/object:Feedjira::Parser::GloballyUniqueIdentifier
 is_perma_link: 'true'
 guid: https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/former-mtv-reality-star-connor-smith-arrested-grooming-charges-year-long-manhunt
title: Former MTV reality star Connor Smith arrested on grooming charges after year-long
 manhunt
categories:
- a47da519-f62d-5c93-9a84-764c5e43cd9f
- fnc
- Fox News
- fox-news/entertainment
- fox-news/entertainment/genres/reality
- fox-news/entertainment/tv
- fox-news/entertainment
- article
content: Former MTV reality star Connor Smith has been arrested after spending
 13 months on the run, evading authorities who launched a nationwide manhunt for
 him.The 33-year-old, who was a cast member on season three of <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/entertainment/tv"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">MTV's dating show</a> "Are You The One?" in
 2015, was wanted on three felony charges, including traveling to meet a minor for
 a sexual encounter, grooming and disseminating harmful material. In February
 2023, a warrant for Smith was issued in Lake County, Illinois. He was taken into
 custody by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office at 15163 George Blvd. in Clearwater,
 Florida, on Thursday, according to a charge report posted on the<a href="https://www.pcsoweb.com/InmateBooking/SubjectResults.aspx?id=1959635"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener"> office's website.</a>Smith was booked into
 the Pinellas County Jail that same day at 2:01 p.m. local time, per the report.According
 to an affidavit obtained by People magazine, Smith did not have any weapons on him
 at <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/us/crime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the
 time of his arrest.</a> The affidavit further stated that Smith did not appear to
 be under the influence of drugs and there were no signs of mental health issues.<a
 href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/nationwide-manhunt-underway-former-mtv-star-allegedly-tried-have-sexual-encounter-with-teenager"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">NATIONWIDE MANHUNT UNDERWAY FOR FORMER MTV
 STAR WHO ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO HAVE SEXUAL ENCOUNTER WITH MINOR</a>Last
 February, the Lake County Sheriff's Department issued a media release, which described
 Smith as having corresponded with a female undercover detective who was pretending
 to be under the age of 15.According to the release, "Smith sent ‘the child’
 sexually explicit images and videos of himself. Smith then made arrangements to
 meet the ‘girl’ for a sexual encounter."The Sheriff's department says Smith
 had been in communication with "the girl" for several weeks..<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener">LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR
 MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS</a>On Feb. 9, 2023, under the pretense
 he was meeting the "girl," Smith drove to an alternate location. Detectives moved
 in to apprehend him, however he was able to "escape and fled in his vehicle."A
 nationwide arrest warrant was then filed for Smith, with a<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/us/us-regions/midwest/illinois"
 target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Lake County Judge </a>setting bond on the warrant
 at $1 million.<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/newsletters" target="_blank"
 rel="noopener">CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER</a>Smith
 previously told authorities that he would surrender himself to them, but he failed
 to do so.Smith had previously been accused of inappropriate behavior towards
 a minor in 2021. He was <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/us/crime" target="_blank"
 rel="noopener">arrested</a> and charged with rape, sexual battery and two
 counts of criminal confinement, according to court documents obtained by Us Weekly. According
 to The Times of Northwest Indiana, the charges were dropped in Sept. 2022. <a
 href="https://www.foxnews.com/category/entertainment/events/in-court" target="_blank"
 rel="noopener">An attorney for Smith</a> said at the time that they were
 "pleased with the outcome and glad we were able to vindicate our client of these
 horrible false charges."Additionally, attorney Maryam Afshar-Stewart told
 the media, "Unfortunately, these type of accusations, despite a dismissal, carry
 consequences that are far-reaching. . . . While a dismissal is a step in the right
 direction, Mr. Smith has a long road ahead to repair the damage that has been caused
 by these false allegations."Fox News Digital's Caroline Thayer contributed
 to this report.
summary: Former MTV reality star Connor Smith was arrested on Thursday after evading
 authorities for 13 months amid nationwide manhunt.
carlessian_info:
 news_filer_version: 2
 newspaper: US general38
 macro_region: USA
url: https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/former-mtv-reality-star-connor-smith-arrested-grooming-charges-year-long-manhunt
rss_fields:
- title
- url
- summary
- categories
- published
- entry_id
- content
- image
image: https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/03/931/523/connersmith.jpg?ve=1&tl=1

Language

Active

Ricc internal notes

Ricc source

Show this article Back to articles