Former star of MTV’s “Are You the One?” arrested on grooming charges after year on the run

Dustin Nelson
·1 min read

Connor Smith spent a year eluding law enforcement before his arrest Thursday in Florida.

Connor Smith, a former contestant on MTV's reality dating show Are You the One?, was arrested Thursday in Clearwater, Fla., booking records show. He had spent the past 13 months on the run after fleeing police in Illinois when they attempted to arrest him there.

Smith is accused of grooming a minor and traveling to meet a minor for sex. He had allegedly been messaging with an undercover cop he thought was an underage girl.

<p>Cook County Sheriff's Office</p> Connor Smith

Cook County Sheriff's Office

Connor Smith

During Smith's conversations with an undercover officer posing as a teenager, he allegedly sent sexually explicit images and videos of himself." Later, he drove to meet up with her for sex, the Lake County Sheriff's Office reported in a February 2023 press release.

When Smith arrived for their meet-up, the police tried to arrest him, but he fled in his vehicle. That was more than a year ago, and authorities subsequently issued a nationwide warrant with charges of traveling to meet a minor, grooming, and disseminating harmful material.

The onetime reality star was charged with sexually assaulting a minor in 2021, but the charges were dismissed in 2022 after the victim stopped cooperating with the police. The accusations in that case involved his allegedly meeting a minor online and then arranging to meet the minor in person.

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