A former MTV star has been sentenced to 30 months in prison after prosecutors said he tried meeting up with a child for sex in Lake County, fled from police and went on the run for over a year.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division began working in collaboration with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in 2023.
The agencies were investigating Connor N. Smith, 34, formerly of Orland Park, who was reported to have been communicating for several weeks with an undercover detective online.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said in February 2023 that the detective was posing as a girl under the age of 15.
During the conversations, Smith sent “the child” sexually explicit images and videos of himself.
Smith also made arrangements to meet the girl for a sexual encounter, Covelli said.
During a detention hearing, prosecutors detailed extremely graphic messages that Smith sent to the undercover agent about what he planned to do to the girl.
Smith on February 9, 2023, drove to meet the girl to engage in the sexual encounter, Covelli said.
When Smith arrived, detectives moved in to apprehend him but the man was able to escape and flee in his vehicle.
Prosecutors said Smith fled the scene in his pickup truck at a high rate of speed and officers initially pursued him but terminated the chase after Smith drove over a raised median to escape while disregarding stop signs.
Sheriff’s detectives obtained a nationwide arrest warrant for Smith for traveling to meet a minor, grooming and disseminating harmful material, which are all felonies.
A Lake County judge set bond on the warrant at $1 million. Smith indicated he would surrender himself on the warrant but never did, Covelli said.
The Pinellas County, Florida Sheriff’s Office arrested Smith on March 28, 2024, more than a year after the warrant was issued.
Smith, who was residing in Clearwater, Florida, was ordered held in the Pinellas County Jail before later being extradited to Illinois.
A Lake County judge called Smith inherently dangerous before ordering him held in custody during the pendency of his case.
In December 2021, Smith was arrested on a warrant for allegedly sexually assaulting and kidnapping a 16-year-old girl in northwest Indiana after meeting her on a dating app. Those charges were later dismissed.
In 2015, Smith appeared on an MTV dating show called “Are You the One?”
Court records show Smith entered into a negotiated plea deal with the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office on October 30.
He pleaded guilty to one count of traveling to meet a minor, a Class 3 felony, and the rest of his charges were dismissed.
In exchange, Smith was sentenced to 30 months in the Illinois Department of Corrections. He will receive 190 days of credit for time served.
Records show Smith is projected to be paroled from Taylorville Correctional Center in June.