Ex-MTV actuality star Connor Smith has been arrested in Florida after a yr on the run from police in Illinois.
With the assistance of the Pinellas County Sheriff, the Are You the One? alum was booked into custody on Thursday, March 28, the place he’s being held with out bond, Us Weekly can affirm by on-line data.
In line with Fox 32, Smith, 33, has been on the run since February 2023 after he was accused of chatting with a detective posing as an underage lady.
On the time, police informed the Chicago information affiliate that Smith allegedly drove to a shopping center parking zone to fulfill who he thought was an underage lady for a sexual encounter.
There could also be loads of actuality courting exhibits with wild premises on the market, however MTV’s Are You the One? is in a category by itself. At first of every season, producers secretly pair contestants into {couples} primarily based on the outcomes from a matchmaking algorithm. The solid members then transfer in collectively and attempt to […]
Quickly after Smith pulled into the parking zone, police mentioned he noticed sheriff’s officers approaching his pickup truck. He proceeded to drive off in hopes of evading arrest.
“He turned very cautious instantly,” Christopher Covelli, deputy chief of the Lake County Sheriff’s Workplace, informed Fox 32. “Put the automotive in drive, drove over a curb, drove over a major quantity of grass out on to a serious roadway fleeing from our investigators. Our investigators gave chase for a bit. Finally, he was going at such a harmful and extreme pace they terminated that pursuit.”
The Lake County Sheriff’s Workplace issued a nationwide warrant for Smith’s arrest on expenses of grooming, touring to fulfill a minor and disseminating dangerous materials.
“Connor Smith stored participating this lady in communication, in dialog, ultimately sending lewd images of himself to who he thought was this lady, actually an undercover detective, after which labored out a plan to fulfill who he thought was this lady to interact in a sexual relationship,” Covelli beforehand mentioned. “We imagine he’s very conscious that he’s needed for these critical crimes in Illinois.”
Smith was in the end arrested by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Workplace at a Clearwater, Florida handle.
Though the world of actuality courting exhibits focuses overwhelmingly on heterosexual {couples}, there are some sequence which have challenged that norm. Season 8 of MTV’s Are You The One? featured a completely LGBTQ+ solid, together with trans-masculine nonbinary contestant Kai Wes. The present’s govt producer Sitarah Pendelton spoke to Leisure Weekly in 2019 about how the […]
Smith first appeared on season 3 of MTV’s actuality courting present Are You the One? in 2015. After failing to discover a lasting relationship, the fact star left filming in Hawaii and returned to his hometown in Chicago to work on opening his personal health club.
After the present, he expressed curiosity in doing extra actuality TV sooner or later.
“To all of those that hold asking why I haven’t been on @TheChallengeMTV belief me I might like to go present them what’s up,” he wrote by way of X in November 2017. “Make the decision guys.”